The Important Nautical Navigation Tools That Must be a Part of Your System

Posted by Harry Voges on May 7th, 2018

In this fast-paced world where technology has spread its roots in almost every area of life, Marine and sea life is no exception. Gone are the days when ships and sea crafts used to rely on unconventional ways of navigation to move forward. With highly advanced nautical navigation tools, the navigation system has become a lot simpler than ever.

What are Nautical Navigation Tools?
Nautical navigation tools are devices and equipment that are used by nautical navigators to find the position, direction, distance of ship or sea craft while they are on their trade. Navy, Merchant Navy, Ship transportation, and boats all use these navigational tools in order to find the direction and position of the ship at a certain time. These tools also help in case of the disappearance of the ship in a cyclone or sea storm.

Types of Navigation tools
Modern navigation tools are much simpler to use and provide accurate and precise information when compared to their unconventional part. There are different types of navigational tools used in Marine and some of which are:

Gyro Compass
A Gyro compass is used to find the right direction of the ship. Unlike Magnetic compass, they do not get faulty due to the external magnetic field and provide the correct North position.

Radar
A radar is a system which helps in analyzing the position, direction, speed and distance of the ship from the land or any other nearby object such as another ship or aircraft by sending out radio waves which reflect back from the source and give the details.

Magnetic Compass
A magnetic compass is a nautical navigation tool which helps in determining the direction for the voyage by working in accordance with the magnetic field of the earth.

Auto Pilot
An autopilot is the advanced combination of the hydraulic, mechanical, and electrical system of controlling the ship from a remote location or when no pilot is available on the ship.

Echo Sounder
An echo sounder is used to calculate the depth of the water by sending sound waves.

Navigation Lights
It is one of the important nautical navigational tools used in ship voyage and almost every ship has these night light as a part of their navigation system.

Bottom line
Without nautical navigational tools, marine or ships are almost incomplete and can’t even think of traveling miles of miles. These tools should always be a part of the ship’s navigation system in order to prevent an accident during the voyage.

Author’s bio: The author is a blogger and this article is about nautical navigation tools.