BOXING THE COMPASS.
The action of naming all thirty-two points of Marine Compass from due North in a
clockwise direction is called Boxing the Compass.
There are 32 points in the Compass of 360°. So, the angular range of one
Compass point is, 360°/32 = 11.25°
Therefore, it is 11.25° between each point on the Marine Compass.
A 32 point Marine Compass comprises of following divisions:
● Cardinal points
● Inter-cardinal points
● Half points
● Quarter (By) points
Cardinal Points
The four cardinal points are the main directions of the compass.
● north (N)
● east (E)
● south (S)
● west (W)
These Cardinal points are at right angles on the compass.
Intercardinal Points
The Intercardinal points are formed by bisecting the angle of the cardinal points.
● northeast (NE)
● southeast (SE)
● southwest (SW)
● northwest (NW)
The Cardinal and Intercardinal points together forms the eight principal directions
of the Compass.
Half Point
The Half-points obtained by bisecting the angles between the eight principal
points.
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● north-northeast (NNE)
● east-northeast (ENE)
● east-southeast (ESE)
● south-southeast (SSE)
● south-southwest (SSW)
● west-southwest (WSW)
● west-northwest (WNW)
● north-northwest (NNW)
Quarter(By) Points
Further sixteen points are obtained by bisecting the angles between the above 16
points. These are called as Quarter points or By points.
● In the first quadrant: north by east (NxE), northeast by north (NExN),
northeast by east (NExE), and east by north (ExN);
● In the second quadrant: east by south (ExS), southeast by east (SExE),
southeast by south (SExS), and south by east (SxE);
● In the third quadrant: south by west (SxW), southwest by south
(SWxS), southwest by west (SWxW), and west by south (WxS);
● In the fourth quadrant: west by north (WxN), northwest by west
(NWxW), northwest by north (NWxN), and north by west (NxW).
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