BEARING, in Navigation, an arch of the horizon intercepted between the nearest meridian and any distinct
Bearing II Bearn. stinct object, either discovered by the eye, or resulting from the finical proportion; as in the first case, at 4 P. M. Cape Spado, in the isle of Candia, bore S. by W. by the compass. In the second, the longitudes and latitudes of any two places being given, and consequently the difference of latitude and longitude between them, the bearing from one to the other is discovered by the following analogy:
As the meridional difference of latitude
Is to the difference of longitude;
So is the radius
To the tangent bearing.