A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1367 entries
seamark
A seamark is any fixed object used to fix a position or a course from seaward: a buoy, a beacon, a lighthouse, a church tower, a distinctive tree, a notch in a ridge. The formal ones are charted and lit; the informal ones are local knowledge, and a great many fishing grounds were and still are found by lining up two landmarks until they overlap, which is called a transit or a mark.
Etymology
The word is Old English and is as old as the practice. Its counterpart on land is landmark, which has drifted into meaning any notable building while seamark has stayed technical. The distinctive English coastal habit of preserving conspicuous trees, spires, and rocks specifically for this purpose is why so many are protected in law.
Notes
The two-mark transit is the oldest and still one of the most precise positioning methods there is, since lining up two objects gives a line on the earth accurate to within a few yards and requires no instrument at all. Fishing families held sets of them as private knowledge, passed down and not shared, and the marks for a particular wreck or reef were an asset.