So what happens if you find yourself without a Bowditch? No, you don't jump ship
right away. All you really need to do is draw a triangle and for some reason, that'll tell you how to draw your chart. Why
this works, well, it involves a bit of mathematics, but, simply put, it does closely approximate what a real Mercator chart
would look like, though not exactly. This method is less accurate than using meridional parts, but you don't need anything
but a triangle, paper, and pencil to complete it.
Step 1: Orient your paper correctly
-If you think your longitude spread will be longer than your lat, lay out your paper that way
Step 2: Draw you meridians, evenly spaced across the page, leaving room for a neat line if you need
to
Step 3: Draw your mid-lat across the middle of the sheet
Step 4: Draw a line angled upward from your mid-lat. The angle it makes with the mid-lat should be equal
to the degrees of Latitude of the mid-lat.
Step 5: Using the length of this angled line, draw the same spread vertically along one of your meridians
from the mid-lat.
Step 6: From this point above or below the mid-lat, draw a line across the page parallel to the mid-lat
or perpendicular to the meridians
-This line is the parallel of Latitude above or below the mid-lat
Step 7: Repeat Steps 5 and 6 above and below the mid-lat until you have drawn as many parallels as will
fit neatly
Step 8: Knowing the spread between your meridians, divide and draw increments to provide yourself with
a Minutes Scale for longitude
Step 9: Parallel this scale directly upward to the angled line to create a Minutes Scale for latitude
That's it, head up to watch man.
If you find that you can't fit as many parallels of latitude as you need using this method, or you knew that ahead of
time, use the same process as above, but draw your parallels first, evenly spaced, then draw your mid-long, then draw the
angled line as before to find the spacing for the rest of the meridians
