Which action risks a ship running aground using 18th-century dead reckoning navigation after days without sights?

💡 Explanation

When lacking celestial sights, dead reckoning maintains position estimates based on course and speed, but neglecting current-induced leeway drift introduces accumulating position errors because uncompensated lateral forces displace the vessel significantly. Therefore, drift is the risk, rather than altitude, reliable time, or incorrect speed which would cause lesser errors.

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