If you think about it for a moment, the celestial navigation techniques available in 1900 were nowhere near accurate enough to position a ship within one nautical mile
Without the tankers these chaps would have been in the poo, and wishing they had someone with the celestial nav skills of Capt. Gordon Vette.
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...te-line-03087/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_188_Pacific_rescue