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[Cpt. Jenny Kidd]

they say he is throwing something and saying to time it
like the lightning how long between knots. But i'm still in the black... I thought I was in the red


reload no.. any ideas

[RedHatty]

I am glad this isn't the one to qualify for the final on!

[trinitytron]

Phew! Finally.

[Cpt. Jenny Kidd]

At sea, in order to avoid repeatedly hauling in and measuring the wet line by stretching it out with one's arms, it became traditional to tie marks at intervals along the line. These marks were made of leather, calico, serge and other materials, and so shaped and attached that it was possible to "read" them on sight by day or at night by the feel of each one. The marks were at every second or third fathom, in a traditional order: at 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15, 17 and 20 fathoms. The "leadsman" called out the depth as he read it off the line. If the depth was at a mark he would call "by the mark" followed by the number, if the depth was between two marks, he would call "by the deep" followed by the estimated number.

[RedHatty]

Here's the pattern:

Heading East

Sailing in circles
in a shallow strait
I was wrecked on a reef
Determined out fate

By the Mark 2
5 knots down (as corrected)

By the mark 7
2 knots up, 2 knots down, 4 knots up

By the Mark 3 heading North
1 knot up, 1 knot down, 2 knots up

By the mark 1
6 knots down

Heading West
5 knots up, 2 knots down, 2 knots up, 4 knots down, 5 knots up

By the mark one heading South
8 knots down, 4 knots up

By the mark 5
1 knot down, 2 knots down

Heading East

[booklover]

I get by the the mark 2 and then down 5 to get to the by the mark 7

[RedHatty]

I counted the knot that was showing. Use 5 if it works to calculate the answer

[RedHatty]

Got it

Lay out your recorded depths to start:

E
2 7 5 7 3

N
2 3 1 7

W
2 4 2 6 1

S
9 5 6 8


Reverse West & North (why I don't know but it is the only way it works)
9568 - 7132 = 2436 S
27573 - 16242 = 11331 E

For a finish of

[Sabator]

Good Job

[Cpt. Jenny Kidd]

you have to put in reverse because our map is reversed
up is down north is south

[RedHatty]

good thought, i just went with the "Circles" hint in the clue

[Sabator]

Circling

[trinitytron]

argh id gotten to the point of writing them all down in a rectangle to plot them but i should have remembered the morse code puzzle from last year and that you can subtract numbers.

[Greginvan]

the reverse is necessary

[tkjdnow]

I'm clueless again.

I counted the knots and made a chart. I even laid out a box showing the knots in relation to direction. Subtracting sets of numbers to get the coordinates makes sense.

but...

I don't see how RedHatty extrapolated from the chart to the "Lay out your recorded depths."

Subtracting knots up and down does not yield those numbers .. I think.

Sorry if this is inappropriate, but I really want to understand how these puzzles work. Last year, the morse code and the lightning strikes were the worst.