NAVIGATE BY EYE
Study the charts and publications carefully, before arrival, and keep important information to memory. Select some prominent landmarks, aids, and ranges to lead the ship to her selected anchorage and prepare a pocket course card showing these leading marks as well as the approximate courses to the anchorage. Depending on the situation, the pocket card might have the courses and aids listed on one side and a sketch of the anchorage showing the intended track and prominent aids and hazards on the other.
Navigate by eye as the ship approaches the anchorage, conning the ship to anchor using landmarks and aids that form natural ranges and leading marks. The mate will navigate as usual, as a backup to keep the master or conning officer informed of the ship's progress, using charts on which the intended courses are laid down in advance.
Accurate navigation is fine and important but it can, at times, be overdone. Pilots routinely anchor while navigating by eye, and calmly and quietly place the anchor at least as precisely as a team of navigators shouting bearings and distances to go and distracting the ship handler from the important work of maneuvering the ship to anchor. In most cases, a few well-chosen leading marks and an abeam reference visible to the ship handler, together with a minimum of fixes and some shiphandling skills, are more than sufficient to position the ship as accurately as the often redundant distance circles and continuous cross bearings that are too often relied upon while going to anchor. Keep it simple and professional.
