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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jdrakeh" data-source="post: 2775310" data-attributes="member: 13892">That's pretty accurate, yes. As for sailing at night... it was commonplace in the past (as somebody else mentioned, anchoring in the middle of the sea is still unsafe today, and way back when it was nearly impossible). Navigation at night was largely handled by approximation of position based on astronomy - even my grandfather, hailing from a relatively younger generation of sailors, possessed as much knowledge of astronomy as many college  professors who teach such subjects. I think this has been de-emphasized in recent years as technology has improved (my father was a Marine Corp officer and, while he had some familiarity with astronomy gleaned from time at sea, it didn't even come close to rivalling my grandfather's knowledge on the subject). Sailing at night is still fairly common today, but technology has made learning to navigate by star positions fairly pointless (in fact, I'm not sure if the Navy of today still teaches such things). One other thing to note is that the D&Dism of anchoring at night so that the crew can sleep (or relax) is just that - a D&Dism. Sailing was, and is, a full-time endeavor and requires a large crew working in shifts to safely get from one place to another upon the tide. Dropping anchor for the night so that the whole crew can bed down just didn't happen very regularly (if ever) in real life. Indeed, hallucinations brought on by sleep deprivation are thought to tie in with tales of sea monsters and mermaids that riddle ancient maritime legend. Growing up around several generations of sailors has given me some unique insight into how the profession has changed over the last century (I represent the first generation of Hargrove in nearly six to not have some direct tie to the sea).</blockquote>

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