1 : a navigation or surveying table giving the difference of latitude and departure corresponding to any given course and distance and containing the lengths of the two sides of a right-angled triangle usually for every degree of angle and for all lengths of the hypotenuse from 1 to 100.

What is the purpose of a traverse table?

In navigational terms, it provides the navigator with the difference of latitude and departure (from which he could find the change in his longitude) for any distance along a rhumb line course, the course and distance forming the hypotenuse.

What is Traverse sailing?

: plane sailing in which a ship follows two or more courses in succession with the difference in latitude and departure being added algebraically to find a single resultant course and distance.