SAILING BY DEAD-RECKONING.
By M. Wood
Doubtless many readers of the REVIEW will be at a loss to understand what the writer means by the expression, dead-reckoning, how it is used, and where applied, &c. It is a technical term well understood by those who have the hardihood to brave the briny deep and face old Neptune in all his antagonistic fury, for a livelihood. Dead-reckoning is classed among the arts and sciences used by nautical men in navigating their vessels upon the trackless sea. It is brought into requisition when the mariner is either ignorant of the true method employed by practical seamen in finding their way from one port to another, or is unable to get a view of the heavenly bodies. There are times when the careful, practical skipper is unable to get a nooning, or an observation of the sun when at its meridian, and thus by the use of the quadrant ascertain his latitude and longitude. This method is then resorted to by him. With dead-reckoning, there is, as a natural consequence, much guess-work employed, which by practical men is never considered very reliable, especially where it is jeopardizing human lives and valuable property. The thorough seaman can at any moment upon the bounding billows give to any man that asks him, the precise position of his ship. He may traverse the ocean for months and years without seeing land, yet when night comes, nothing to be seen but the heavens above and the waters beneath, he knows by the use of his chart and compass, rules, scales, and parallels, precisely what course to steer, to reach the haven of rest without being wrecked upon the shoals or stranded upon the quicksands. Holy men of old, as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, prepared a chart called the Bible. In following the directions laid down in this chart, we follow the Captain of our salvation over life's tempestuous ocean, safe through to that haven of eternal rest. It is not pleasing to God to have his professed people ignore his word, defy his authority, and reject his counsel, preferring rather to follow this dead-reckoning style than the way-marks so plainly delineated upon this inspired chart—drifting hither and thither, ever promising, but never accomplishing a landing for the precious souls deluded by this false reckoning. Praise God for the gift of the chart (the Bible) and the compass (the Holy Spirit) to guide us in these days of peril.