BOAT CREW HANDBOOK – Navigation and Piloting
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BOAT CREW HANDBOOK – Navigation and Piloting Captain John A. Henriques BCH 16114.3 December 2017 John Ashcroft Henriques John Ashcroft Henriques was one of the most important Revenue Cutter Service officers of the 19th century. As founder and first superintendent of the Revenue Cutter Service School of Instruction, forerunner of the modern Coast Guard Academy, he was arguably the most important figure in educating Service officers in seamanship and navigation. Henriques began his career in March 1863. The next three years proved hectic ones, beginning with a tour on the James C. Dobbin, a sailing cutter that played a part in his later career and brief assignments as a junior officer on board cutters Crawford, Northerner and John Sherman. In less than five years, Henriques received promotions from third lieutenant to the rank of captain. This rapid rise testified to Henriques’ seafaring experience and command presence. Shortly after the Civil War, a journalist commented, “Captain Henriques is thoroughly posted and every inch a sailor [journalist’s italics] and a gentleman, as is well known to all who have made his acquaintance.” Captain Henriques saw a lot of sea time in the Atlantic, Pacific, rounding Cape Horn, and in Alaskan waters. In the decade following the War, he commanded four ocean-going cutters, including the Reliance. As captain of Reliance, he sailed from the East Coast around hazardous Cape Horn to San Francisco. The voyage began August 1867 and included eight brutal days of gale-force winds and heavy seas while the 110-foot topsail schooner slugged her way around “the Horn.” A few months after Reliance arrived in San Francisco, Henriques sailed for Alaska, becoming one of the first cutter captains to serve in the treacherous waters of that territory, and the first one to enforce U.S. laws in Alaskan waters. Henriques bore the greatest responsibility for planning, establishment, and oversight of the Revenue Cutter Service School of Instruction. While still in Alaska on board cutter Richard Rush, Henriques received orders to Washington, D.C., for the special duty of developing a new Revenue Cutter Service cadet program. With two fellow officers, Henriques devised a system of practical education based on the use of a sail-training ship and Congress passed legislation to establish the school in July 1876. In early December, Henriques convened a board to examine the School’s first candidates, which resulted in the Service’s first class of cadets. Early in 1877, Henriques began fitting out Dobbin to serve her new role as the School’s classroom and living quarters; and he signed on her crew of officers, enlisted men and a surgeon. He also visited the United States Naval Academy, and worked out the final plan for the curriculum, with junior and senior years, one sea term and two academic terms per year. The School of Instruction commenced on May 25th, 1877, when nine cadets boarded Dobbin and started their course of study under Henriques’ supervision. Over Henriques’ suggestion of New London, Connecticut, the Service selected New Bedford, Massachusetts, as the School’s first homeport. By 1878, the School of Instruction had enjoyed a year of successful operation. During that year, the venerable old Dobbin had served the purpose of school ship. And though the twenty-year-old wooden schooner had proven the importance of practical sailing instruction, the Service built a new purpose-built cutter for cadet training. Henriques took charge of the Salmon P. Chase in August 1878, claiming the new 106-foot bark was “one of the most gallant little sea-going vessels he has ever been in; very fast, and in heavy weather always reliable.” Chase remained the school ship through Henriques’ superintendancy, which ended in 1883. In 1900, the School of Instruction moved to Curtis Bay, Maryland; and, ten years later, it moved to its permanent home of New London. In 1902, after a career of almost forty years, Captain Henriques retired to Connecticut and died just four years later at the age of seventy-nine. As a mentor, advisor and instructor, Henriques influenced generations of revenue cutter officers and ushered in a new age of Service professionalism. Commandant US Coast Guard Stop 7324 United States Coast Guard 2703 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington DC 20593-7324 Staff Symbol: CG-731 Phone: (202) 372-2515 BCH 16114.3 DEC 13, 2017 BOAT CREW HANDBOOK – NAVIGATION AND PILOTING – BCH16114.3 Subj: BOAT CREW HANDBOOK – NAVIGATION AND PILOTING Ref: a. Boat Crew Handbook – Seamanship Fundamentals, BCH16114.4 (series) b. Coast Guard Navigation Standards, COMDTINST M3530.2 (series) 1. PURPOSE. This Handbook provides the safest, most efficient methods, techniques, and informational guidance possible to navigate boats in maritime environments and situations. Major topics within this handbook are aids to navigation (ATON) and navigation. 2. DIRECTIVES AFFECTED. The Boat Crew Seamanship Manual, COMDTINST M16114.5C, is canceled. 3. DISCUSSION. The subjects and principles discussed herein include U.S. Aids to Navigation system and maritime navigation principles and application. 4. MAJOR CHANGES. First issue. 5. DISCLAIMER. This guidance is not a substitute for applicable legal requirements, nor is it itself a rule. It is intended to provide operational guidance for Coast Guard personnel and is not intended to nor does it impose legally-binding requirements on any party outside the Coast Guard. 6. IMPACT ASSESSMENT. No impact assessment warranted. BCH 16114.3 7. ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT AND IMPACT CONSIDERATIONS. a. The development of this Handbook and the general guidance contained within it have been thoroughly reviewed by the originating office in conjunction with the Office of Environmental Management, and are categorically excluded (CE) under current USCG CE #33 from further environmental analysis, in accordance with Section 2.B.2. and Figure 2-1 of the National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Procedures and Policy for Considering Environmental Impacts, COMDTINST M16475.1 (series). Because this Handbook contains guidance documents that implement, without substantive change, the applicable Commandant Instruction and other guidance documents, Coast Guard categorical exclusion #33 is appropriate. b. This Handbook will not have any of the following: significant cumulative impacts on the human environment; substantial controversy or substantial change to existing environmental conditions; or inconsistencies with any Federal, State, or local laws or administrative determinations relating to the environment. All future specific actions resulting from the general guidance in this Handbook shall be individually evaluated for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Coast Guard NEPA policy, and compliance with all other environmental mandates. 7. DISTRIBUTION. No paper distribution will be made of this Handbook. An electronic version will be located on the Office of Boat Forces (CG-731) Portal site: https://cg.portal.uscg.mil/units/cg731/SitePages/Manuals.aspx. 8. FORMS/ REPORTS. None 9. REQUESTS FOR CHANGES. To recommend edits and changes to this Handbook, please submit a formal request at the following link: https://cg.portal.uscg.mil/communities/bfco/doctrine/SitePages/Home.aspx. Digitally signed by RUSH.JAMES.B.1109192003 RUSH.JAMES.B.1 DN: c=US, o=U.S. Government, ou=DoD, ou=PKI, ou=USCG, cn=RUSH.JAMES.B.1109192003 109192003 Date: 2017.12.13 14:04:55 -05'00' J. BRIAN RUSH U.S. Coast Guard Chief, Office of Boat Forces 2 Boat Crew Handbook – Navigation and Piloting Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 1-1 SECTION A. PURPOSE OF THIS HANDBOOK ............................................................................................................... 1-1 SECTION B. HOW TO USE THIS HANDBOOK .................................................................................................................. 1-2 Chapter Layout .................................................................................................................................................. 1-2 Warnings, Cautions, Notes, and Memory Aids .................................................................................................. 1-2 CHAPTER 2 AIDS TO NAVIGATION.................................................................................................................... 2-1 SECTION A. U.S. AIDS TO NAVIGATION SYSTEM ........................................................................................................ 2-2 Lateral and Cardinal Significance ...................................................................................................................... 2-3 A.1. IALA-A and IALA-B ..................................................................................................................................................... 2-3 A.2. Lateral System ........................................................................................................................................................... 2-4 A.3. Cardinal System ......................................................................................................................................................... 2-4 General Characteristics of Short-Range AtoN .................................................................................................... 2-5 A.4. Description ...............................................................................................................................................................