FFS, my analogy was aimed @DeckApe who I think would get it. This is it:
Almost everyone agrees that ships need an accurate and reliable compass. Except the ex-fisherman that owned / worked on the Aleutian freighter where I was mate, back in the day. They thought it was a “nice to have item”
Likewise evidently many mariners feel that an anemometer is an unnecessary luxury. In my experience that’s not true. And yes, I am aware there are other ways to estimate the wind, there are also other ways to estimate a ship’s heading.
We had a magnetic compass, the error was around 30-90 degrees and changed with heading and deck load. Not useful for determining actual magnetic heading.
For people unfamiliar with Aleutian Freighter, they were considered under the Magnuson Act to be equivalent to uninspected fishing vessels.
Nobody, at least when I worked there, even knew about SOLAS much less cared. When the CG came aboard they looked for drugs and left as we sometimes use to rendezvous offshore.
Here’s the book, Aleutian Freighter: A History of Shipping in the Aleutian Islands
Here’s the blurb;
Unique among U.S. maritime cargo operations, the Aleutian trade is and has always been carried on by small break-bulk cargo vessels, through severe weather, and a grueling schedule; not an industry for the weak, timid, or foolhardy.
I was the mate, not weak, timid, or foolhardy, legal peril wasn’t something I worried about.