20 
SURVIVAL ON LAND AND SEA 
Direction at Sea 
Now, suppose you are alone in a life raft. You have studied 
maps every chance you have had. You have a fair idea of 
the position where you crashed. You know there is a lot of 
land over to the west— -none to the north, south, or east. There 
is a fair breeze blowing. Do you want to spread your parachute 
to make a sail, or don’t you? 
It all depends, of course, on which way the wind is blowing. 
The ocean looks just the same in all directions, and it isn’t 
labeled north, south, east, and west. 
This is where it is handy to have a little knowledge about the 
stars, sun, and moon — not a lot of technical knowledge which 
requires bubble octants, etc., but some simple landmarks in the 
heavens like those the ancient Polynesians used in sailing all 
around the South Pacific in their dug-out, outrigger canoes, 
centuries ago. 
The Sun 
We all know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the 
west, and that, therefore, it travels from east to west. If you 
are north of latitude 23° 27' N. the sun will invariably pass to 
the south of you on its daily trip across the sky. 
Latitude 23° 27' N. is an imaginary line passing approximately 
through the Marcus Islands, Formosa, the tip of Lower Califor- 
nia, along the northern shore of Cuba, and through the north 
X>art of the Arabian Sea. ( See fig. 2. ) 
The sun follows the upper path at about the 21st of June each 
year before starting slowly south. 
