the sun at noon
We had as much affection for him as if he had been our brother . I took a special interest in him , as he was my pupil ; and I devoted a part of every day to teaching him . He was very obedient , and always did his best to learn his lessons ; so that it was quite a pleasure for me to instruct him . Dick was greatly astonished when papa came on deck with the sextant in his hand , and `` shot '' the sun , as it is called ; that is to say , he ascertained our exact latitude by observing through the instrument the height of the sun at noon . Placing it to his eye , he watched it until it ceased to rise , the indicator showing the number of degrees it was above the horizon . The _ Nautical Almanack _ gives the height it would be at noon on that day along every parallel so that a few figures enabled him to ascertain how far north we had sailed . The way to find the longitude , he explained to us , was by means of the chronometer .