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A great circle track orthodrome.

is the circular segment for navigation between the point of
departure and point of arrival on the great circle.
Greek dromos , ship way, on sea surface means that
orthodrome is a corridor due to having the axis Great Circle.
The prefix ortho means true, correct.
Circle A-B-A is a Great Circle, true dromos, on gnomonic
charts.
A straight line drawn on a gnomonic chart would represent a
great circle track. When this is transferred to a Mercator chart, it
becomes a curve.
The positions are transferred at a convenient interval of
longitude and this is plotted on the Mercator chart with the
appropriate latitude.
For ships, to navigate on Mercator charts, the orthodroma shall
be transformed in loxodroma.
A Rhumb line or loxodrome
i. e. a line of any line on the Earths surface which cuts all
meridians at the same angle, constant bearing.
Loxodrome means angled drome - the orthodrome
transformed in linear segments (chords) between the
point of departure and the point of arrival.

Importance of the maps in Mercator

The Mercator projection was originally designed
projection
to
display accurate compass bearings for sea
travel. Any straight line drawn on this projection
represents an actual compass bearing.

These true direction lines are rhumb lines (or

loxodromes). The route of constant direction
between two locations is a always a straight line.
For navigation, this is the easiest route to follow,
but not necessary the shortest route.
The gnomonic projection is a useful projection
for defining routes of navigation for sea, because
great circles - the shortest routes between
points on a sphere - are shown as straight lines.

The rhumb lines (lines of constant direction)

are shown as straight lines on the Mercator
projection. The shortest distance between two
points - the great circle path - is shown as a
curved line.

Thus, the shortest route between any two

locations is always a straight line. No other
projection has this special property. In
combination with the Mercator map, where all
lines of constant direction are shown as straight
lines, it assists navigators to determine
appropriate courses.
Changes in direction for following the shortest
route can be determined by plotting the shortest
route (great circle or orthodrome) from the
Gnomonic map onto the Mercator map.

All great circles - the shortest routes between points

on a sphere - are shown as straight lines on the
gnomonic projection.

Composite sailing
Method of sailing in which part of the
track is a great circle, and part is
along a parallel of latitude.
When the great circle would carry a
vessel to a higher latitude than
desired, a modification of great circle
sailing called composite sailing may
be used to advantage.
The composite track consists of a
great circle from the point of
departure and tangent to the limiting
parallel, a course line along the
parallel, and a great circle tangent to
the limiting parallel and through the
destination. Solution of composite
sailing problems is most easily made
with a great circle chart.

Dead reckoning
a method by which the navigator can determine
his current position based on an already
determined previous position or fix.
the DR helps in predicting sunset, sunrise,
rainfall, sighting lights and arrival times. The
main usage from DR is that since it helps in
future navigation, hazards can be avoided in
time.
Calculation of a ship's position by consideration of:
distance logged,
courses steered, and
estimated leeway,
dead reckoning does not take into account the
tide, current & wind speed, so is of limited use in
most North European waters.

Simple dead reckoning (top) with

adjustments for leeway (center) and
both leeway and current (bottom).