That doesn't make sense. I believe they are confusing finding true north (or south) with finding longitude.

To find your longitude (and without a sextant, calibrated chronometer, and almanac you could only get a rough estimate) you could determine when the sun was exactly due south (or north, if you're Australian <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> ) in GMT. So, for example, if the sun is due south at precisely 2:00 p.m. GMT, you would know your longitude is precisely 30 degrees West.

But this has nothing to do with finding direction. I think someone was relying on their memory and got the two techniques <img src="images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />