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The Feb. 18 Economy & Business article “U.S. midshipmen are learning the ancient art of sailing by the stars” credited the value and importance of the sextant in navigation. But the instrument being used in the accompanying photograph was a stadimeter, a device used to measure distance, not a sextant. It’s not an instrument that gets a lot of press, so it is nice to see it. Too bad it wasn’t the subject of the article.

Be sure you have a full complement of necessary instruments, including sextants, a stadimeter, binoculars, watches, stop watch, dividers, parallel rulers, pencils, work books; also all necessary books, such as smooth and deck log books, several volumes of Bowditch, Nautical Almanacs, Azimuth Tables, Pilot books, Light and Buoy lists, Star Identification Tables, etc.