“Where Are We?” History of Navigation from 1200 BC

From ancient Polynesian stick charts and Icelandic spars to vintage nautical charts to modern electronic equipment from RDF to AIS, our newest exhibit covers navigation from 1200 BC to the present.

Did you know?

The arc on a sextant is one sixth of a circle, or 60 degrees, and allows a navigator to get a reading on the distance of an object. The sextant is used to determine the altitude of the sun, moon and stars for navigation purposes.

The sextant in our museum was used by donor Peter T. Damon on board the 110′ brigantine Romance, pictured above, in a round-the-world trip. Romance was also featured in the film version of James Michener’s epic novel Hawaii.