Rabans little boat carries an electronic device that instantly gives mariners their position to within a few metres anywhere on the earths surface Strongly as he approves of this instrument there is more than a touch of primitivism in Rabans attitude to other seafaring aids He thinks the invention of the compass was a disaster causing a fundamental rift in the relationship between man and sea Raban maintains that since it came into use perhaps a thousand years ago it has become the main object of the steersmans gaze with the result that he no longer has to study the waves and feel the sea And the ocean once a place with all sorts of things going on in it is now reduced to a mere space Since his job is merely to keep steady on a course the helmsman can be replaced for long stretches by an autopilot This may be why Raban had time to look so carefully at the waves