Definition
Dead reckoning advances a known position using only the course steered through the water and the distance logged, deliberately ignoring tidal stream, current and leeway. It is plotted as a cross on the course line with a single arrowhead, labelled with time. Because it excludes the water's own movement it is a systematic rather than probabilistic estimate, but it remains the essential fallback when electronic positioning fails and the basis from which the estimated position is derived.
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