I just took one of Franks classes and it was awesome!!
Frank taught an incredible class on celestial navigation that brought me from novice to some solid understanding of sextants, their history and most importantly their use as a aid to seeing the sea...and knowing where you are on this planet!
Hands on, wealth of knowledge, great resources ... he really covered a lot of ground! There was a lot of math but unlike in my youth, I was on the edge of my seat to soak up knowledge!! Frank made it relatable and real. The sextant which is such an iconic tool of the sea, was demystified. By the end of class i felt comfortable with it. I had mastered how it worked, how to read it and how to adjust it to insure its accuracy.
I came away with all of the cheat sheets and understandings of equations and concepts that breathe the life into what you capture through your sextant sightings.
I would highly recommend Frank and believe Mystic Seaport with its planetarium, an ideal setting for my class with him discovering this timeless tool of the sea.
Frank did a great job keeping the class interesting with visual aids, both on screen and out on the Seaport grounds.
All in all i would highly recommend this class to any and all folks interested in learning about navigation and sextants. Informative and digestible, but most of all useful to the point where i am comfortable with the instrument and have the formulas needed to continuing to set my sights on the horizon!!
I look forward to more classes to learn more from Frank and strengthen my understandings of celestial navigation!
Thank you!!!
John
Lunars and Longitude
Winter / Spring 2026:
Learn the art of Lunars, the famous celestial navigation method of finding longitude by observing the Moon in this intermediate-level workshop. Taught by Frank Reed, the world's leading expert on the history, science, math and practice of lunars. We cover practical application of the method as well as its extraordinary history, including primary-source evidence in the logbooks of the museum's collections. We will follow an extraordinary voyage in the 19th century, a Boston trading ship on a quest for coffee, sailing to India and home, all thanks to Lunars. And we'll follow William Bligh and the "Bounty" to Tahiti and the famous mutiny that followed, relying on the Moon for their successful navigation.
Lunars were widely used at sea in the early 19th century in the era before chronometers became common. Lunars made global navigation possible. Observing with a fine sextant, navigators used the Moon as a great natural clock in the sky. From James Cook and Nathaniel Bowditch to Joshua Slocum, lunars were a challenge that proved a navigator's skill.
Participants in this workshop will learn the fine details of adjusting a sextant properly for shooting lunars, tricks for taking accurate sights today, and easy methods for working with these infamously difficult observations both by modern and historical means. We'll also talk about some of the interesting mathematics and astronomical discoveries that made lunars possible. For a modern celestial navigator or navigation enthusiast, there is no better test of your sextant and observing skills. Weather permitting, we will have opportunities to take actual lunar observations.
All workshops: $ 149 per person, per workshopCreated and taught by Frank Reed, celestial navigation and astronomy consultant on the team that found Shackleton's "Endurance" in 2022. Also a recent guest expert in celestial navigation on Neil deGrasse Tyson's StarTalk on The National Geographic Channel.
- Nine hours of class sessions.
- Requirements: an introductory course or equivalent in the the use of a sextant and other basic concepts of celestial navigation.
- Previous attendance in our Celestial Navigation in the Age of Sail is recommended but not required.
- Good math skills and some familiarity with trigonometry are recommended.
If you're registered for an online workshop, you're invited to attend hour-long sextant practical sessions in Rhode Island and Connecticut scheduled as weather and other factors permit. These live, in-person sessions are included in your registration for online classes.
Comments:
John Workman wrote: 20👍
John Carbone wrote: 5👍
Celestial Navigation Courses with Frank Reed ... As a formal naval officer navigator, navigator on Bermuda passages, and many celestial courses, I highly recommend Frank Reed in any course or program he teaches. I have taken his celestial courses at Mystic Seaport, online and followed his engaging web community (NavList.net). Every encounter has been different and educational. With his expertise and polished presentations, you will learn and understand the theory and practice celestial navigation. Frank is the consummate professor and someone not to be missed.
Homer Smith wrote: 10👍
Over the past few years I have taken all of the Celestial Navigation courses taught by Frank Reed at ReedNavigation.com and I recently repeated Modern CN 1 & 2 just for the pure enjoyment that it brought to me.
My interest in CN started a few years ago as I puzzled over how the stars could be used to find one’s position on the earth. I tried to learn CN through self-study, but I couldn’t make the subject matter interesting and realized that this was not the correct approach. You need a skilled instructor that can guide you through the learning process, and that’s what Frank Reed provides.
In a relatively short period of time I had a solid grounding in CN. Frank has unmatched knowledge of CN. His classes are fun, interesting, and sprinkled with historical context and include as much or as little math as you desire. His visual aids were very helpful and the time spent on discussing how to properly use a sextant to take a sight was beneficial. You will learn how to find stars in the night sky by which to navigate. The downloaded course guide is very concise and includes tables that are valid for 5 years into the future.
You don’t need to be at sea to do CN. I live inland and learned in the class how to do land-based navigation with a sextant, either with a large or small body of water to provide a true horizon, or with no water horizon at all.
Going back 250 years, I understand how CN was practiced through the ages, up to the present time with calculator, equations and tables. Thanks to Frank, I take great satisfaction in knowing that I possess a skill that very few people have. I highly recommend his courses.
Homer R. Smith M.D.
My interest in CN started a few years ago as I puzzled over how the stars could be used to find one’s position on the earth. I tried to learn CN through self-study, but I couldn’t make the subject matter interesting and realized that this was not the correct approach. You need a skilled instructor that can guide you through the learning process, and that’s what Frank Reed provides.
In a relatively short period of time I had a solid grounding in CN. Frank has unmatched knowledge of CN. His classes are fun, interesting, and sprinkled with historical context and include as much or as little math as you desire. His visual aids were very helpful and the time spent on discussing how to properly use a sextant to take a sight was beneficial. You will learn how to find stars in the night sky by which to navigate. The downloaded course guide is very concise and includes tables that are valid for 5 years into the future.
You don’t need to be at sea to do CN. I live inland and learned in the class how to do land-based navigation with a sextant, either with a large or small body of water to provide a true horizon, or with no water horizon at all.
Going back 250 years, I understand how CN was practiced through the ages, up to the present time with calculator, equations and tables. Thanks to Frank, I take great satisfaction in knowing that I possess a skill that very few people have. I highly recommend his courses.
Homer R. Smith M.D.
