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Hi Kieran,

Hi Kieran, and Peter,

I can assure you that the original Navy MK III Mod O sextants were made by
David White & Co, and/or Scientific Instruments, both of Milwaukee, WI. This
would be around 1974-76.  It is possible that  Lowe came into the picture
ten or more years later if the other two companies went out of business as I
think they did.

Here is one of the best buys on ebay in the recent past. Unfortunately, I
was called away for a long distance tele, and missed out on the final
bidding.  I just wrote the buyer as to who the manufacturer was. BTW, there
was no Lowe making sextants when I was active in the business which as I
said previously ended in NOV 1978, but I was aware of the other two.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3705509316&category=37971
&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:1

Note that this is an aluminium frame sextant just like the one that will
sell on ebay this week. I know I told Stacy and may have told the group,
that I used one when I was a DV on board the USS Caron, DD 970 for a brief
cruise the Summer before last. If I did tell you that, I also mentioned I
couldn't get any officers or quartermasters to take any sights with me. And
Stacy followed up with a directive from the Commander of the Atlantic Fleet
giving the requirements of how many celestial sights should be taken daily.

Joel

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kieran Kelly" 
To: 
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 6:38 PM
Subject: Re: C+P NAVY MK III


> Joel,
>
> A quote from the Plath company history tends to support Peter's view
> although it is somewhat ambiguous:
>
> "At the beginning of 1953 Johannes Boysen, together with the well known
> American navigator, P V H Weems, founded in Washington the firm of Weems &
> Plath, whose main purpose was to step up the sale of C Plath sextants in
the
> USA."
>
> The history points out that this association only lasted 11 years when C
> Plath pulled out, however it did not insist on a name change.
>
> The history continued, " As the US navy instited that the instruments used
> by it should be manufactured in the USA, C Plath granted the firm of Lowe
> Inc in New York a manufacturing licence for the C Plath sextants. Up to
this
> day all Mark 111 sextants for the US Navy have been manufactured by this
and
> a successor firm under this licence."
>
> These words were written in 1987 so according to the company's offical
> history Mark 111 sextants were indeed Plath's made under licence in the
USA.
> Possibly David White was the successor firm to Lowe Inc that is referred
to
> in the history. What date did your company pitch for the business?
>
> Regards
>
> Kieran Kelly
> Sydney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Navigation Mailing List
> [mailto:NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM]On Behalf Of Joel Jacobs
> Sent: Sunday, 21 March 2004 8:34 AM
> To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM
> Subject: Re: C+P NAVY MK III
>
>
> Peter,
>
> I don't know where you got your information, but my company, Nautech
> Maritime Corp of Chicago, Il,  bid on the Navy contract for the MK III,
and
> it went to David White of Milwaukee. They also had a subsidiary, survivor
or
> successor company called something like Scientific Instruments, Milwaukee,
> WI which made the Mod 2.
>
> You can read about this experience at:
>
>
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2561519492&category=37971
>
> I was away from sextants from 1978 until just recently, but I was of the
> opinion that the W&H sextant was made by Cassens & Plath. I will not bet
the
> farm on that one, but I will on who made the USN MK III Mod 0 unless what
> you say occurred while we were out of the country, 1978 - 1984, and during
> the following years when I was not involved with sextants in any manner.
>
> Joel Jacobs
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: 
> To: 
> Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 4:07 PM
> Subject: Re: C+P
>
>
> > To add my two cents to Kieren and Robert's explaination of C. Plath's
> > relationship to Cassens & Plath, there was a similar situation with
Weems
> &
> > Plath of Washington, DC (later Annapolis, MD). After World War II, C.
> Plath
> > went through a very difficult rebuilding period. With the decline of
> German
> > shipping, they looked to gain a foothold in the US market. In 1953 they
> > formed a partnership with P.V.H. Weems to sell C. Plath sextants and
> > compasses, calling the venture Weems & Plath.
> >
> > Since the US Navy would not purchase foreign-made instruments, Lowe,
Inc.,
> > of New York was contracted to build sextants under license from C. Plath
> and
> > bearing the Weems & Plath name. The US Navy Mark III sextant was a
> > Lowe-built Plath.
> >
> >  -- Peter

   

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