Years ago, and locked away in storage I have a copy of Emergency Navigation that discussed the Polynesian Star Paths and how they enabled the connectivity between islands. While not the be-all; it is an eye opener in the world of sextants, compasses and gps.
Polynesian Star Paths
The concept of a star path comes from island navigators of the tropical Pacific. The “path” is a sequence of stars with nearly the same declination, which means they rise at nearly the same place on the horizon throughout the tropics (the Tropics Rule). By learning the sequence for the bearing from one island to another, Polynesian navigators have, in essence, established sets of celestial sailing directions. They follow one star as it rises above the horizon until the next in the sequence appears, at which time they shift to the new star for orientation. In this way, they keep track of a particular bearing on the horizon throughout the night. The same technique can be used with setting stars. It is easy to see how indigenous star paths could evolve into finely tuned routes that account for both prevailing currents and the leeway of traditional craft. Poor choices would be removed from the lore by natural selection.
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