Tired of your banana diet, you slowly emerge from your barrel to survey your surroundings. Cautiously looking over the edge of the vessel, you can see nothing but ocean on all sides. Immediately, you begin to miss mom and dad and start to get worried that you may never see them again! You decide that you want to get back home as quickly as possible without alerting the ship's crew to your presence. You know only the ship's station identification code but you hope that with a little luck you will be able to find your way back home.

In order to get back, without having to let anyone else know you've snuck on board, you will need to answer a few questions about your whereabouts, your destination and how long it will take you to arrive in port. Thankfully, you've got your laptop computer, your cellular phone and modem with you. Hooking up to the Internet in a concealed corner of the boat, you get to work answering the questions.

(NOTE: If possible, print out this page so you can follow the directions even after you leave this web site.  It will also be helpful if you bookmark this web site so you can return to is easily.)

1. Locate your current position in the ocean

• Get your Ship ID Code from your teacher
• Click on the West Coast Graphic button at the bottom of this web site
• Locate your ship on the map by using its ID Code
• Then use your "BACK" button on your web browser to return to this site.

2. Gather data on your ship's location

• Click on the Purdue Ocean Site button at the bottom of this web site
• In the text window, type in your ship's ID code IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS and click the search button or hit enter.
• You will get back the information for your ship in several hour intervals.
• On your worksheet, record the latitude and longitude coordinates for the current position of your ship as well as the previous position (first and second entries in the table)
• Plot the current position of your ship on your world  map using the latitude and longitude coordinates. Label this dot -- Current Position.
• Plot the previous position of your ship on your world  map using the latitude and longitude coordinates. Label this dot -- Previous Location.
• Based on the location of these two dots which general direction do you think the ship is moving in? (hint: the ship moves from its previous position to its current position)
• Record the time interval between positions on your worksheet, this is the time it took the ship to move from its previous position to its current position.

3. How far have you traveled between positions?

• Click on the Xerox Distance Chart button at the bottom of this web site.
• In the text window labeled "TO", enter in the latitude and longitude coordinates for your CURRENT POSITION.  Make sure to use the correct syntax when entering the data in this text window.  Click here if you need more information on the correct syntax.
• In the text window labeled "FROM", enter in the latitude and longitude coordinates for your PREVIOUS POSITION.  Make sure to use the correct syntax when entering the data in this text window.  Click here if you need more information on the correct syntax.
• Once the data has been entered in both text windows, click on the button labeled "Look it up".
• At the next web site, record the distance ship has traveled between the two positions AND the initial heading (e.g. Southeast 135 degrees) on your worksheet.
• Move onto the next section, but remain on the web site that is displaying the distance data, you will continue on using this web site in step  #5.

4. How fast are you going?

• Basic speed equation is: Speed is equal to Distance divide by Time (speed=distance/time)
• To determine the speed of your ship, divide the distance it traveled between the previous position and the current position by the time interval between positions.  If you measured your distance in miles and use hours as your unit of time then your speed will be measured in miles per hour (mph).
• Math extension -- convert your ship's speed to knots -- knots are the way ship's usually measure their speed. 1 knot = 1.15 miles/hour. Click here for a graph that will help you make this conversion without using equations.

5. Where are you going?

• Click on the link which reads "see these places on a map".  This will display a map of the world with the previous and current positions marked in red.  At first you will only see the two red marks, this is because you are zoomed in on a small part of the ocean.
• Scroll to the bottom of the map, and from the "options" click on "zoom out" by (1/10) or (1/25).  Once you click either the (1/10) or the (1/25) a new map will be displayed with the two red marks but showing a greater portion of the ocean.  Keep zooming out until you can see the land mass you think your ship is headed towards.
• If possible print out a copy of the map showing the two marks and the land masses.  If you cannot, then work off the screen.
• Take out your circular protractor (protractor with 360 degrees). CLICK here for a protractor you can print onto paper or a transparency.
• Place your circular protractor directly over the current position mark on the map.  Line the center of the protractor up with the center of the red mark.  Make sure that the 0 deg. mark on the protractor is pointed directly towards the top of the map (North).
• Using your protractor, in a clockwise direction, measure off the initial heading in degrees which you recorded earlier. Mark this angle off by placing a dot next to the protractor.
• Draw a line that passes through the current position mark and the dot and extend it until it hits land.
• Based on where the line hits land and where large shipping ports are located, make a guess at where you think the ship is headed (port-of-call). Record the port-of-call on your worksheet.

6. How long before you reach land?

• Use the back button on your browser or your bookmark file to return to the Stowaway Adventure web site.
• Again, scroll to the bottom and click on the Xerox Distance Chart.
• This time in the text window labeled "TO", enter in the city and state or country (e.g. San Francisco, CA or Yokohama, Japan) that you think you are headed towards (port-of-call). Make sure to use the correct syntax when entering in the name, click here from more information.
• This time in the text window labeled "FROM", enter in the latitude and longitude coordinates for the current position. Make sure to use the correct syntax, click here for more information.
• Click on the "Look it up" button.
• You will now get back the distance between your current position and your port-of-call, this is the distance to port-of-call.  Record the distance to port-of-call on your worksheet.
• Based on the speed of the ship and the distance it has to travel, calculate the time left in the voyage.  Record the time left in voyage on your worksheet.

Congratulations!!  You have now solved all of your problems and can call your mom and dad up and have them pick you up when you dock.

If you would like to take part in The Stowaway Adventure Part II, click here.

Our site has been selected as a valuable Internet resource for
Discovery Channel School's H2Oceans theme for spring 1997. 

Copyright ©1997 Stevens Institute of Technology  E-mail webmaster@k12science.stevens-tech.edu with problems.	Home Back Help Search
http://k12science.stevens-tech.edu/curriculum/oceans/stowaway.html last edited Wednesday, 04-Jun-97 12:42:56 EDT