How Does a Captain Steer His Ship Across the Ocean?
Man, the most intelligent animal, can also find his way about, but he has had to learn to do this step by step. When an explorer first travels into the unexplored forest, he carries a compass which tells him in what direction he is traveling, but this is not sufficient to tell him the exact path he came and return the same way. In order that he may do this, he must make marks on the trees and other objects to find his way back. When these marks are once made, other men can follow the path by their aid, and eventually a path becomes worn so that men can find their way back and forth without the aid of the marks especially.
A trained ship captain can take his ship from any port in the world to another port. He can start at New York City and in a given number of days, according to how fast his ship can travel, land his passengers and cargo in the port of London or Johannesburg, South Africa, or at any desired port in China, Japan or any other country. But he cannot do this by any kind of instinct. He takes his directions from information that was furnished him by some one who went that way before him—some other captain of a vessel who made marks in his book of his position in relation to the sun and stars. This is practically the same as the traveler in the forest who made marks on the trees to make a map of the way back and forth. Even with these charts, compasses and other guiding marks, however, man, even though he is the most intelligent of all the animals, makes very grave mistakes and sometimes brings disaster upon himself and the lives in his care.