Know your Nautical terminology
Celestial Navigation
the ancient and modern practice of position fixing that enables a navigator to transition through a space without having to rely on estimated calculations, or dead reckoning, to know their position. Celestial navigation uses "sights", or angular measurements taken between a celestial body (e.g. the Sun, the Moon, a planet, or a star) and the visible horizon. The Sun is most commonly used, but navigators can also use the Moon, a planet, Polaris, or one of 57 other navigational stars whose coordinates are tabulated in the nautical almanac and air almanacs.
Celestial Navigation is a subject that fills far too many young officers and Quartermasters with dread. While it can be tedious at times it is not particularly difficult once certain concepts are understood. It is all about circles and where to draw them. Reduced to its basics it looks much like this.
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
I’ve read that early Hawaiian navigators used this method, and I guess they came originally from Tahiti but i never studied up on this. From what little I know they were quite expert at this. What I wonder is how they knew how to find the islands of Hawaii in the first place. Little specks in a gigantic ocean.