a method of establishing one's position using the distance and direction travelled rather than astronomical observations
dead reckoning in American English
the finding of a ship's position by an estimate based on data recorded in the log, as speed and the time spent on a certain course, rather than by more precise means, as astronomical observations or Loran
Examples of 'dead reckoning' in a sentence
dead reckoning
The aim was to reduce the heavy toll of shipwrecks caused by the crude navigational method of dead reckoning.