Fathometer vs Sextant - What's the difference?
fathometer | sextant |
(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:
(nautical) A navigational device for deriving angular distances between objects so as to determine latitude and longitude.
* 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter IV
(geometry) One sixth of a circle or disc; a sector with an angle of 60°.
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)- 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)- 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.