Nautical chart always true north, rather than magnetic north, towards which a compass points. Most charts include a compass rose depicting the variation between magnetic and true north. However, the use of the Mercator projection is not without its drawbacks. Mercator's technique was to make the lines of longitude parallel. On the real globe, the lines of longitude converge as one goes north or south away from the equator, until they meet at the pole. This distortion means that horizontal distances are exaggerated. Mercator's solution, imperfect as it might be, was to increase the distance between lines of latitude in proportion; in
Adlard Coles Nautical Adlard Coles Nautical Adlard Coles Nautical is a nautical publisher, with over 300 books in print. The company publishes books on topics of interest to sailors and motorboaters and also ‘landlubbers’ with an interest in the sea. Their list includes almanacs, cruising guides, pilot books and how-to instruction books, as well as large format photographic books, sailing narratives and sea-related reference, maritime history, humour and trivia books. Adlard Coles Nautical has been part of Bloomsbury Publishing since 2003. The company was founded by yachtsman Kaines Adlard Coles in 1947. He wrote many of the books, including pilots, sailing narratives and