The Rhumb Course,
according to which a ship has an unchanged course from port to port, this course being represented in a Mercator's chart by a straight line. This is not the shortest course. Often it is hundreds of miles longer than the shortest course ; and in the case of sailing ships tacking against adverse winds it may involve distances thousands of miles greater than need have been traversed. The shortest course at sea is the great circle course. I have planned charts which make it almost as easy to draw in the shortest course with all its bearings from port to port as Mercator's charts made it to draw in the Khumb course. (Owing to misapprehensions of Messrs Stanford, the chartographers, - the publication of these charts has been delayed, and I have been unable to answer queries about them, not knowing when they would be ready. They are ready now.) Richard A. Proctor.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18880817.2.101.8
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 1917, 17 August 1888, Page 33
Word Count
154The Rhumb Course, Otago Witness, Issue 1917, 17 August 1888, Page 33
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