A 16th century man using a cross staff to sight Polaris and thus determine latitude. Pedro de Medina, "Libro tercero," Regimiento de Navegación, 1543. Institute of Texan Cultures, 77-122

The main acknowledgements and thanks go to readers in many areas of expertise who slogged through early drafts, pointing out errors and suggesting—or demanding—corrections that should be made in content and tone: Dr. Thomas R. Hester, Dora Guerra, Dr. Jeremiah F. Epstein, Dr. Tom Gibbons, Dr. Roger Bailey, Anders Saustrup, Rosemary Catacalos, Dr. W.W. Newcomb Jr., David Haynes, and Rosemary Davis. They are responsible for helping with large matters from arguments over epistemology to tangles in Chinese translation, tone of language to proper references. The correspondents are too numerous to mention here but were helpful at every turn.

Special thanks are due to Pete Graeber and Nella Tolk for inviting me aboard the cutter Defiance, where I learned a bit about sailing, put into practice older navigational techniques, and collected experiences which proved useful while judging related data surfacing in subsequent days and nights.