A fast-paced introductory workshop in the history and the actual techniques of celestial navigation as it was practiced aboard American vessels in the Age of Sail. We’ll learn how to take sights and work calculations, especially as done aboard the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan. Examining original logbooks and navigational calculations from its voyages, we’ll apply these same methods to modern navigation. In this class, we’ll learn how to use and adjust sextants and octants, both historical instruments and their modern equivalents, and we’ll learn the classic method of finding latitude by “Noon Sun”. We’ll also cover in detail the math of the “time sight” for finding longitude. Throughout, we will compare what we’re doing with the actual logbook entries of calculations in the collections of Mystic Seaport, bringing historical documents to life. Instructor: Frank Reed. Dates: May 4-5, 2019; 10:00AM to 4:00PM