How do I give a rough indication of an object's position when onboard a vessel?

Answer 1

Because it is not possible to display diagrams or pictures on this site it is necessary to describe what we are referring to. This explains how to give a rough indication of the position an object. Start with a standard circle. We will call this our compass or compass rose. This is used in various situations both for relative bearings and absolute bearings. We will use it here to refer to the positions relative to the vessel itself. Standing at the rear, aft, and looking forward towards the front, bow, is considered 0 degrees and is also known as the vessels head or heading. Directly behind you, astern, is 180 degrees. With 'quick and dirty' indications of position angles are measured clockwise and anticlockwise from the bow around the compass up to 180 degrees. Remember this is only used for directions relative to the vessel for rough indications. So the angles 90 degrees left and 90 degrees right are at right angles relative to the vessels head. This is known as abeam. Angles to the right are called starboard and angles to the left are called port. Just knowing this you can give a rough indication of the location of an object by saying some thing like, "Flashing light at port 10." This would indicate on object about 10 degrees to port of the vessels head, though it gives no indication of distance.