When I started school in South Africa, part way into Standard 2 (Grade 4), the teacher told us about the use of a compass. One places it on a flat surface, she said, and looks for North, and so on. I said, one takes a coconut shell and drills a hole in the side, fills it with water, and when the stars come out ... I was an instant sensation. OBSERVATION: I still remember many methods of navigation from my childhood, of which this was one. One looked at the hue of the sky, and the clouds, one looked for distant birds, for the swell and the ripples on the water, for streaks of light under the water, the prevailing winds and currents, and so on. (I have twice been lost at sea -- thankfully not for too long -- if three days is not too long).
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