The Art of Navigation

Abstract

The word “navigate” is derived from the Latin words navis, meaning ship, and agere, meaning to move or direct. Navigation is generally defined as the process of directing the movements of a vessel from one place to another. For the contemporary navigator, however, this definition is incomplete, as it lacks two essential modifying terms—the words safely and efficiently. In today’s world of rampant inflation and increasingly serious energy shortages, the cost of replacing a vessel lost through negligent navigation can often be completely prohibitive, quite apart from the consideration of any attendant injuries or deaths among the vessel’s crew or loss of cargo. Revenue losses caused by inefficient navigation with consequent increases in fuel bills and other operating costs can be almost if not equally as severe over time. Thus, modern navigation may be more properly defined as the process of directing the movements of a vessel safely and efficiently from one place to another.