1984 American Practical Navigator - Bowditch - Volume 1 - Hardcover Books (Set of 2, 7 x 10)

Volume I of the American Practical Navigator (“Bowditch,” Pub. No. 9) is the narrative text of the book; Volume II holds the tables. The 1984 edition of Volume I, published by the Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic/Topographic Center, runs to 1,414 pages, so Paradise Cay reprints it as two 7 x 10 inch hardcover books of 684 and 748 pages.

The 1984 text opens with a history of navigation and moves through chart projections, aids to navigation and the nautical chart; piloting and dead reckoning, compass error, the sailings and tide and current predictions; and celestial navigation from navigational astronomy and the almanac to sight reduction and identifying celestial bodies. Later parts cover ship weather routing, polar and lifeboat navigation, navigational safety, oceanography, weather and tropical cyclones, and electronics, from radio direction finding and radar to satellite and inertial navigation. Appendices include almanac extracts and buoyage systems.

Paradise Cay offers this edition as a study aid for celestial navigation. Its tables companion is the 1981 Volume II, sold separately.