Degrees, Minutes, Seconds vs Decimal Degrees

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Oh wow!

There are names in that cast that'll bring a tear to the eye of a Former Danish Person :-)!

I'll go sculling for the flick.

Did you serve in Maersk-Moller ships?

TP

Sailed on an ex Maersk tanker many many years ago but was introduced to Martha as master of the DFDS 'Tor Futura' when we had her in Australia on bareboat charter about 20 years ago.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Kerry1

I believe what he's pointing to is the fact that bureaucrats, in deciding what "marine areas", ie reserves and "no go zones" to protect, used a conversion from their land oriented co-ordinate system to degrees, minutes and seconds. Whereas they were still "behind the times", in that we navigators seemed to have migrated to the more universally implemented degrees, minutes, decimal minutes

Nah, I was whinging because we ended up with degrees, minutes and decimal minutes to about four decimal places. Another example of momentary convenience for the bureaucrats but permanent inconvenience for the public.

[TrentePieds]

Ping said: "...but was introduced to Martha as master of the DFDS 'Tor Futura'..."

Well, Ping, you baited me, and I took it hook, line and sinker :-0)!

I found the trailer for Martha, and as an FDP I'm still blushing in utter embarrassment. The only kinda humour my former compatriots know is slapstick! I shoulda clued in when I saw the name Sprogøe in the write-up.

So as an antidote I went looking for flicks that I then and now hold in higher esteem than I ever could Martha. One I stumbled upon, but canna find again, opened with a naval vessel coming straight at the viewer at high speed. The only thing clearly discernible is its pennant number: K47. K?? That's frigates and corvettes! And in a second, as the camera pans out, we see a genuine Flower Class corvette!

I had left my native land ten years before Martha was made and settled in Vancouver. I now have my hook down in a distant suburb of Vancouver from which K129 took her name!

K129 HMCS Agassiz was launched by Burrard Dry Dock in North in Vancouver in June of 1940 and served during Hitler's war escorting convoys out of Sydney NS and Halifax NS. She was scrapped in Sydney in the summer of 1945.

A sister ship, also Canadian built, had better fortune. K162 HMCS Sudbury was bought by Island Tug and Barge in Victoria BC after having served a stint in the Ozzie Navy, I believe under the name Caledonian Salvor and converted into an ocean-going tug bearing the name Sudbury II. She sank in Hecate Strait in 1982.

So I owe you thanks - hereby extended- for taking me back, however circuitously, to memories of my early days here, when British Columbia was still a part of the British Empire, rather than the American one :-)!

All the best :-)!

TP

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Ping said: "...but was introduced to Martha as master of the DFDS 'Tor Futura'..."

Well, Ping, you baited me, and I took it hook, line and sinker :-0)!

I found the trailer for Martha, and as an FDP I'm still blushing in utter embarrassment. The only kinda humour my former compatriots know is slapstick! I shoulda clued in when I saw the name Sprogøe in the write-up.

So as an antidote I went looking for flicks that I then and now hold in higher esteem than I ever could Martha, and one I stumbled upon opened with a naval vessel coming straight at the viewer at high speed. The only thing clearly discernible was its pennant number: K47. K?? That's frigates and corvettes! And in a second, as the camera pans out, we see a genuine Flower Class corvette!

I had left my native land ten years before Martha was made and settled in Vancouver. I now have my hook down in a distant suburb of Vancouver from which K129 took her name!

K129 HMCS Agassiz was launched by Burrard Dry Dock in North Vancouver in June of 1940 and served during Hitler's war escorting convoys out of Sydney NS and Halifax NS. She was scrapped in Sydney in the summer of 1945.

A couple of sister ships, also Canadian built, had better fortune

I'd hold back on that judgement until you actually see it.
Land people may not appreciate the humour quite as much as sailormen.

Back on topic. I think the only chart I have seen with minutes and seconds in the margin is an old french one that came with my boat - I probably still have it somewhere - of Detroit de Singapura.

Pic below of detail of BA chart 1171 - the plate was engraved in 1915. So decimal minutes go back at least that far on British charts.