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The backstaff is a navigational instrument that was used to measure the altitude of a celestial body, in particular the Sun or Moon. When observing the Sun, users kept the Sun to their back (hence the name) and observed the shadow cast by the upper vane on a horizon vane.
In navigation the instrument is also called a cross-staff and was used to determine angles, for instance the angle between the horizon and Polaris or the sun to determine a vessel's latitude, or the angle between the top and bottom of an object to determine the distance to said object if its height is known, or the height of the object if its distance is known, or the horizontal angle between ...
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank is a 1984 science-fiction television film starring Raul Julia and Linda Griffiths (pictured).Based on a 1976 short story by John Varley from the Eight Worlds series, the film takes place in a dystopian future where an employee at a conglomerate, played by Julia, gets trapped inside the company's computer, where he is monitored and later abetted by a character ...
From 1601 to 1603 he accompanied Sir James Lancaster as Pilot-Major on the first voyage of the English East India Company. For his part Davis was to receive £500 (around £1.5 million at 2015 values [ 7 ] ) if the voyage doubled its original investment, £1,000 if three times, £1,500 if four times and £2,000 if five times.
Navigators had been able to work out latitude accurately for centuries by measuring the angle of the Sun or a star above the horizon with an instrument such as a backstaff or quadrant. Longitude was more difficult to measure accurately because it requires precise knowledge of the time difference between points on the surface of the Earth.
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The backstaff, which measures the length of a shadow, was used from the 16th century and saw iterative improvements such as the Davis quadrant. These were in use in parallel with the octant and early sextant ; the sextant eventually displaced the others, and is still used to this day.
The son of Willem Fredrik Jacob Mörzer Bruyns, Sr. (1913–1996), a Dutch merchant mariner, and a naval officer (reserve), [1] the young Willem Mörzer Bruyns initially trained as navigation officer at the [Amsterdam Nautical College] (Hogere Zeevaartschool van het Zeemanshuis), Mörzer Bruyns sailed as a junior officer with the Amsterdam-based Netherland Line.