Marines In The 1500s

Have you ever trained for a 5k? In training you have to keep track of where you run and what speed you were going at, imagine one day you went out to practice running the 5k and made it in 45 minutes! When you get home you notice you forgot to turn on your running log, all that work and nothing to show. That’s how it was for early sailors, they had trouble keeping track of how fast they were going, when it changed , and where they sailed. To solve this they had a Traverse Board an early “computer” for logging the ship’s velocity, which is it’s speed and direction. This affected Transoceanic exploration (T.O.E) because it would help sailors find shorter routes for sailing, kept track of where they went to prevent getting lost, and helped with making maps. …show more content…
With each change in direction or speed they had to take notice, even if it was by 10 degrees to the South it mattered. Though it was hard to keep track of the speed the Traverse Board was simple to use.
The Traverse Board was really straightforward to use so even people with a lower education could use it easily. You log in a Traverse Board by attaching string into holes, every half hour of his watch the navigator inserted a wooden nail into the hole which marks that the ship has already passed that point. There are eight pieces of rope with pegs attached at the bottom of the Traverse Board to keep track of the speed during each half-hour(Mariner’s Museum 14) .The navigator would know when to log because a bell would ring to remind him that it was