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----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel Jacobs" 
To: 
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 11:13 PM
Subject: Re: C+P NAVY MK III


> 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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