The American Practical Navigator (colloquially often referred to as Bowditch), originally written by Nathaniel Bowditch, is an encyclopedia of navigation. The American Practical Navigator, first published in 1802, was billed as the "epitome of navigation" by its original author, Nathaniel Bowditch. The text has evolved with the advances in navigation practices since that first issue and continues to serve as a valuable reference for marine navigation in the modern day. The publication describes in detail the principles and factors of navigation, including piloting, electronic navigation, celestial navigation, mathematics, safety, oceanography and meteorology. It also contains various tables used in typical navigational calculations and solutions, including the formulas used to derive the tabular data.

The newest editions of the American Practical Navigator can be downloaded as complete PDF documents by selecting the hyperlinks on this website. https://msi.nga.mil/Publications/APN