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Sailing Directions
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Sailing Directions
Sailing Directions are volumes published by various National Hydrographic Offices or Coast Guard Agencies which provide essential information to support port entry and coastal navigation for all classes of vessels at sea. Sailing directions are part of the carriage requirements defined by the SOLAS Convention.
Sailing Directions contain information on countries, navigational hazards, buoyage, pilotage, regulations, anchorages and port facilities, seasonal currents, ice and climatic conditions. Diagrams and photos are included to help identify places through textual description during coastal navigation and to support the passage planning stage. This information, when used alongside official navigational charts, will provide context and can help to increase the situational awareness of the bridge team.
Sailing directions, also known as Pilots, provide the local knowledge and awareness which would typically be provided by a local marine pilot.
The oldest sailing directions, dating back to the middle ages, descended directly from the Greek and Roman periplii: in classical times, in the absence of real nautical charts, navigation was carried out using books that described the coast, not necessarily intended for navigation, but more often consisting of reports of previous voyages, or celebrations of the deeds of leaders or rulers.
They were known as Portolani (singular: Portolano) which derives from the Latin word portus which means port. Their introduction dates back to the 13th century, first in Italy and then in Spain.
Unlike nautical charts, of which there are no traces in the Greek and Roman era and of which the first examples date back to the 13th century, the periplus and, subsequently, the portolani make use of an uninterrupted and substantially unchanged tradition that derives from centuries of use and experience. The oldest example of a portolano for the Mediterranean Sea is the Periplus of Scylax of Carianda.
The Compasso da navegare, created by an anonymous Italian and written in the Sabir language, the Mediterranean lingua franca, dates back to the Middle Ages. The medievalistso date it back to the mid-13th century based on philological comparisons with other versions of the same text. The term compasso probably dates back to the Latin verb compassare, or to measure in steps, while the connection to the compass (divider) itself, as an instrument for measuring distances, is not excluded.
Among the other important portolan charts created between the 13th and 15th centuries, we can mention the oldest example for offshore navigation in the Atlantic Ocean, created for routes from Scandinavia to the large islands in the north of the Ocean, dating back to the mid-13th century and belonging to the Valedemar Code; and the first French portolan chart regarding the Mediterranean Sea, called Le grant routier, and written in 1485 but then reproduced, on several occasions, until 1643.
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Sailing Directions
Sailing Directions are volumes published by various National Hydrographic Offices or Coast Guard Agencies which provide essential information to support port entry and coastal navigation for all classes of vessels at sea. Sailing directions are part of the carriage requirements defined by the SOLAS Convention.
Sailing Directions contain information on countries, navigational hazards, buoyage, pilotage, regulations, anchorages and port facilities, seasonal currents, ice and climatic conditions. Diagrams and photos are included to help identify places through textual description during coastal navigation and to support the passage planning stage. This information, when used alongside official navigational charts, will provide context and can help to increase the situational awareness of the bridge team.
Sailing directions, also known as Pilots, provide the local knowledge and awareness which would typically be provided by a local marine pilot.
The oldest sailing directions, dating back to the middle ages, descended directly from the Greek and Roman periplii: in classical times, in the absence of real nautical charts, navigation was carried out using books that described the coast, not necessarily intended for navigation, but more often consisting of reports of previous voyages, or celebrations of the deeds of leaders or rulers.
They were known as Portolani (singular: Portolano) which derives from the Latin word portus which means port. Their introduction dates back to the 13th century, first in Italy and then in Spain.
Unlike nautical charts, of which there are no traces in the Greek and Roman era and of which the first examples date back to the 13th century, the periplus and, subsequently, the portolani make use of an uninterrupted and substantially unchanged tradition that derives from centuries of use and experience. The oldest example of a portolano for the Mediterranean Sea is the Periplus of Scylax of Carianda.
The Compasso da navegare, created by an anonymous Italian and written in the Sabir language, the Mediterranean lingua franca, dates back to the Middle Ages. The medievalistso date it back to the mid-13th century based on philological comparisons with other versions of the same text. The term compasso probably dates back to the Latin verb compassare, or to measure in steps, while the connection to the compass (divider) itself, as an instrument for measuring distances, is not excluded.
Among the other important portolan charts created between the 13th and 15th centuries, we can mention the oldest example for offshore navigation in the Atlantic Ocean, created for routes from Scandinavia to the large islands in the north of the Ocean, dating back to the mid-13th century and belonging to the Valedemar Code; and the first French portolan chart regarding the Mediterranean Sea, called Le grant routier, and written in 1485 but then reproduced, on several occasions, until 1643.