Compass Rose 2008 Geocoin

"I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by...." Congratulations, you have found Oldfun’s “Compass Rose” geocoin. Please take me from port to port, by ship if possible. Please take lots of pictures of me on the sea and in all the ports. If I can dine with the captain on the largest ship in the world that would be my ultimate goal.

A compass rose is a figure displaying the orientation of the cardinal directions, north, south, east and west on a map or nautical chart. It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional magnetic compass. Today the use and idea of a compass rose is found on or featured in almost all navigation systems, including nautical charts, NDB and VOR systems, some GPS sets and similar. Although a compass rose may sometimes be called a wind rose, it should not be confused with the graphic tool used by meteorologists to depict wind frequencies from different directions at a location. Replica of a 32-point compass rose from a chart by Jorge de Aguiar (1492), the oldest personally signed and dated Portuguese nautical chart Naming all 32 points on the rose is called boxing the compass. The "rose" term arises from the fairly ornate figures used with early compasses. A fleur-de-lis figure, evolved from the initial T in the north wind's name Tramontane, is sometimes used to indicate the north direction. Similarly, on old maps the east was marked with an L for Levante, or with a + indicating the direction of Jerusalem from the point of view of western Europe's countries. Early roses were depicted with 12 points at 30° each, as was favored by the Romans. In the Middle Ages map makers moved to the 16-point rose complaining that sailors did not have the education to understand the previous design. The 16-point rose has the uncomfortable number of 22 1/2° between points, but is easily found by halving divisions and may have been easier for those not using a 360° circle. Using gradians, the sixteen-point rose will have exactly twenty-five gradians per point in.