Or North, if you’re in the Southern hemisphere&…

No, it only shows North in the Southern Hemisphere if you have a counter-clockwise watch!

Failing that, you need to mentally work out the left-right reflection of your normal watch. I am in Kagaroos’ country!

if you have a watch and the sun is up, point the hour hand at the sun. 1/2 the distance ccw to 12 high is South, no need for sticks and stones

UM the first and second illustration show a change in the shadow but not on in the sun which would be physically impossible especially in that you are measuring changes in the suns position in the sky.

• Mlah September 3, 2012 at 7:29 pm

Its a simple picture cut it some slack. It doesn’t matter that the sun is in the wrong position.

• Gary March 13, 2014 at 1:04 pm

How far do you think the sun moves in 15 minutes? I don’t believe the human eye could see the difference.

&…..Plus, if you need the picture to make sense out of those clear, concise directions, finding east is going to be the least of your problems in a survival situation!

If you’re in a forest and can’t see the sun, or if cloud cover blocks the sun, find a stream, a creek, any running water. Follow the creek, stream, et al. A creek becomes a stream, which becomes a river. Rivers flow to the ocean. People live near rivers. It’s impossible to get lost in the wilderness if you can find a running body of water.

• Michael Ossipoff July 1, 2015 at 10:00 am

Following a creek downstream isn’t such a good idea. Yes there there is often civilization at the ocean river-mouth, but how far will that be?

Travel along a creek or river is often particularly difficult and slow due to dense vegetation, and maybe mud, boulders, etc.

On a ridge-line, you have the best visibility, and the best chance of making yourself noticed by a plane, etc.

I have just made public my improved method for using a watch for finding directions (survivaltricks.wordpress.com by tonytran2015) Basically I use a tilted vertical watch rather than a horizontal watch. I found it more accurate and has relied on it for 10 years. I would appreciate if the author or the readers here can make comments on my method.

• Michael Ossipoff July 1, 2015 at 10:16 am

What you describe is a fully valid sun-compass.

What it amounts to is the universal equatorial ring sundial, used as a sun-compass.

The universal equatorial ring dial can be used as a sun-compass in conjunction with information abot the timeadjusting its hanging-ring for your latitude, turn it on its vertical axis till it gives the right time. That’s similar to your method.

The universal equatorial ring-dial can also be used as a sun-compass without knowing the time. It has a provision for measuring the solar declination (angle north or south of the celestial equator). Rotate the device about its vertical axis till the declination-reading is correct, and that’w when the ring’s polar-axis is pointing toward the north.

A yacht-navigation book has published an ingenious folded cardboard version of the universal equatorial ring sundial:

A card is folded at a right angle. Each half, on the two sides of the fold, is square. A string can hold the folded card at a right angle.

One square will be be held in the equatorial plane, and an edge of the other square is the gnomon that casts its shadow on the equatorial-plane square.

Both squares have, marked on them, quarter-circle protractors, which take the place of the equatorial ring.

Which square you use as the equatorial plane depends on whether the season is on the winter or summer side of the equinoxes.

There’s even provision for measuring the solar declination, just as with the usual universal equatorial ring-dial.

It can do anything that a universal equatorial ring dial can do, but it can be easily made on paper, pasted on cardboard, and folded into a right angle.

Of course one of the quadrant-scales is used to achieve the right upward tip, according to your latitude. I use mine with a short plumb-line, consisting of a penny taped to the end of a short piece of sewing-thread. But, without the plumb-line, you can orient for latitude based on where you estimate the horizon to be (even though the horizon isn’t really visible in most forests).

To repeat my main statement: Your method consists of using a watch as a universal equatorial ring-diala good idea, and potentially a big accuracy-improvement over the ordinary watch method.

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