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?
Lv 5
? asked in Politics & GovernmentMilitary · 6 years ago

How did sailing ships trail other ships without being spotted?

Update:

In the movie Master and Commander, the Surprise is seen trailing after the antagonist ship Acheron, and given the size of the latter ship in the horizon it seems almost certain that the Acheron would have also spotted the Surprise and would have taken precautions like speeding away or turning to engage, yet for a considerable amount of the movie the Acheron is oblivious to the pursuing ship.

Assuming this is close to realistic, how is that possible?

4 Answers

Relevance
  • mokrie
    Lv 7
    6 years ago

    They couldn't. They were spotted.

  • glmoore24
    Lv 7
    6 years ago

    Why would they? Are you think WW2? With satellites you know where eveyone is at all times.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    6 years ago

    one would suppose maintain a topmast lookout who can advise when a certain distance was too much or too little

  • lestermount
    Lv 7
    6 years ago

    try to stay just beyond the horizon and hope they don't notice you.

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