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A man and his sextant
Commander Phil Harper RN recently wrote to me about an unusual sextant. As I am no longer in a position to collect and write about interesting sextants, I invited him to write the following guest blog...
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A slip of workmanship?
This post is preceded by “Tamaya Collimation Blunder” and by “Incorrect assembly of SNO-T shades” While this post is about workmanship rather than a blunder, this seems to be the correct category for...
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A French sextant restoration
During a lock-down period for Covid 19 in 2021, a large box arrived from a collector in Australia. In it were four antique sextants and a circle which Dave wished me to restore for him and over the...
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Refilling a Kollsman Bubble Chamber – a guest post by Arthur Leung
Arthur wrote to me in April 2021 with an enquiry about the MHR1 navigational device and then kindly wrote a guest blog about it. He then acquired a Kollsman periscopic sextant and what follows is his...
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A Small Ramsden Sextant
On page 64 of Peter Iflands Taking the Stars is a figure showing a small sextant bearing Jesse Ramsden’s name. According to Ifland, this was one of the last sextants made by Ramsden, though by the...
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Un Cercle de Reflection (Reflecting circle)
A few months ago I was entrusted with a variety of antique sextants to restore and, while restorations proceeded slowly on account of family infirmity, writing about the restorations has proceeded...
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A reproduction MHR1 Position Line Slide Rule
This post was preceded by “Hughes Marine Bubble Sextant”, “An improvised sun compass”, ” C Plath Sun Compass”; “A Fleuriais’ Marine Distance Meter” A Stuart Distance Meter”;“A Russian Naval Dip...
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LAND USE CONVERSION OF MARK IX BUBBLE SEXTANT A few years ago, I bought a Mark IX bubble sextant for parts from a local auction web site. I had vaguely noted an excrescence had been added to the top,...
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Mercury amalgam mirrors
For years I have wished to reproduce the method of re-silvering sextant mirrors using the process which was common until the mid 19th century, when chemical methods of depositing silver on to glass...
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Mending a 1975 SNO-T sextant.
A little while ago I bought a SNO-T sextant on a local auction site, not because I did not have one (I have two), but because the price was too attractive to miss. I found there were two major and one...
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A Freiberger scale illuminator
Julian Thornton recently wrote to me about his newly acquired Freiberger Trommelsextant , asking about a fitting attached to the outside of the micrometer mechanism. He was able to de-construct it to...
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A Late C18 Wooden Quadrant Restored
Previous posts in this category include: “A C18 sextant named J Watkins”, “An Old Wooden Quadrant Restored”, ” A turn-of-the-century French sextant”, “A Half-size Sextant by Lefebvre-Poulin”, ” A Fine...
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German WW II Gyrosextant (See-Kreisel-Sextant)
Figures 5, 6, 12, and 13 may be enlarged by clicking on them. During the Battle of the Atlantic, which for Britain began on 2 September 1939 and ended on 8 May 1945, without a break, Britain was nearly...
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A French Hydrographic Sextant
Figure 1: Sextant in its case. I recently acquired for a relatively modest sum the three-circle vernier sextant shown in Figure 1. Attached at the front corner of the frame is a plate engraved with the...
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Hughes Marine Bubble Sextant
This post was preceded by “An improvised sun compass”, ” C Plath Sun Compass”; “A Fleuriais’ Marine Distance Meter” A Stuart Distance Meter”;“A Russian Naval Dip Meter”; and “An Improvised Dip Meter”...
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Another Sounding Sextant
A little while ago I acquired yet another sounding or survey sextant for a relatively small sum. It is based on a Cassens and Plath nautical sextant. As with most sounding sextants, it has no shades,...
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A C18 sextant named J. Watkins
Previous posts in this category include: “An Old Wooden Quadrant Restored”, ” A turn-of-the-century French sextant”, “A Half-size Sextant by Lefebvre-Poulin”, ” A Fine Sextant by Spencer, Browning and...
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An Old Wooden Quadrant Restored
Previous posts in this category include: ” A turn-of-the-century French sextant”, “A Half-size Sextant by Lefebvre-Poulin”, ” A Fine Sextant by Spencer, Browning and Co”, “A C19 Sextant Restoration” ,...
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A later Shackman sextant: a guest blog post.
John Triplett recently wrote to me about a Shackman sextant that he had acquired and kindly agreed to write a guest blog post. In what follows, comments that I make are shown in blue. It wasn’t very...
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Hughes and Son Admiralty pattern micrometer sextant
I wrote about a Hughes and Son Admiralty pattern vernier sextant on 23rd June 2011, concentrating on its telescopes, its rising piece for the latter and its sealed mirrors. Recently, I acquired an...
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