Re: Naval Encounters

From: Nils Weinander <nils_at_...>
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2004 23:31:28 +0100

Donald:
>
>We're straying into digest material here so I'll just say that reliable
>positioning at sea wasn't achieved in the real world until about 1800.
>Prior to that open sea voyages were minimised as much as possible.

True for Europe, not true for Polynesia, where the sailors were excellent at (relative) positioning and did not hesitate to sail over open seas (as witnessed by the colonization of Hawaii and New Zealand for example).

>I don't see Glorantha having better navigational means than 18th
>Century Europe.

Or Polynesia, but Glorantha poses its own set of navigational problems as the GLoranthan sky looks pretty much like that seen at the Earth's poles, with the stars circling a celestial pole right overhead. One base of Polynesian navigation is the setting and rising of stars. That won't work on Glorantha.