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Fathometer vs Sextant - What's the difference?

fathometer | sextant |

As a noun fathometer

is (nautical) a depth finder that uses sound waves to determine the depth of water.

As a proper noun sextant is

(astronomy) the constellation sextans.

fathometer

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (nautical) A depth finder that uses sound waves to determine the depth of water.
  • * 1977 , , Clear the Bridge: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang (Ballantine Books, 2003), page 347:
  • A Fathometer is just a vertical echo-ranger; its pings would sound the same and could drive a submarine out of position just as effectively as horizontal echo-ranging and might even make a contact.

    sextant

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (nautical) A navigational device for deriving angular distances between objects so as to determine latitude and longitude.
  • * 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter IV
  • For several days things went along in about the same course. I took our position every morning with my crude sextant ; but the results were always most unsatisfactory. They always showed a considerable westing when I knew that we had been sailing due north. I blamed my crude instrument, and kept on.
  • (geometry) One sixth of a circle or disc; a sector with an angle of 60°.
  • See also

    * octant * quadrant * ----