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They used a combination of practices. Prior to the early 1700s, captains on sailing ships used the stars. In the 1600s, they used "Reflecting instruments". By 1730, they used a sextant which is a "doubly reflecting navigation instrument". All instruments used angles between stars visible to the ship. The compass was in use as early as the ChineseHan Dynasty (about 206 BC). It was used for navigation by the Song Dynasty Chinese during the 11th century,

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9y ago

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