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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Kieran Kelly
Date: 2005 Aug 9, 18:25 +1000
There was
also the memorable Plath sextant cast in solid gold to commemorate either Carl Plath’s
retirement or the US takeover (I can’t remember which). Unfortunately it was stolen
from the company’s offices in Hamburg and has never been seen since. Would have
been heavy but certainly the most corrosion-proof sextant ever made.
I would hazard
a guess that it is also the most collectible (and most valuable) sextant ever
made, not only for its materials but also for its historical value. I suppose James
Cook’s sextant would also be up there in terms of collectability, certainly in
Australia.
Kieran
Kelly
Sydney
Australia
-----Original
Message-----
From: Navigation Mailing List
[mailto:NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM]On
Behalf Of Yourname Here
Sent: Tuesday, 9 August 2005 2:01
AM
To:
NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM
Subject: Re: Dream Choice of
Sextant
FYI,
There were a
few British sextants made in Sterling Silver.
Joel Jacobs
Visit our website
http://www.landandseacollection.com
--------------
Original message from John Simmonds <seeka@IINET.NET.AU>: --------------
biggest problem with stainless steels is cost of manufacture, and
don't kid yourself that it would be corrosion free :)
the thing would also be very heavy
John
live every day like it may be your last .. cause one day it will be
On Mon, 8 Aug 2005 07:39:51 -0400, Robert Eno wrote:
>
I know my choice lies outside the bounds of what you described but
>
my dream choice of sextant would be a C.Plath design in which all
>
of the components are constructed from 316 stainless steel. I often
>
wonder why no one ever thought of using this material for a
>
sextant. Perhaps because it cannot be cast or perhaps because
>
stainless steel is more prone to ther! mal changes than bronze or
>
brass.
>
>
Robert
>
>
>
----- Original Message -----
>
From: "Mike Hannibal" <pelorus32@YAHOO.COM.AU>
>
To: <NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM>
> Sent: Monday, August 08, 2005 2:43 AM
>
Subject: Dream Choice of Sextant
>
>
>> If you had a choice between a C&P Horizon Ultra and
a
>> C&P Pelorus which would you choose? Money isn't the
>> issue.
>>
>> The use is the full breadth of uses to which you might
put a
>> sextant with an equal balance between
>> star/planet sights, sun sights and coastal nav stuff -
distance
>> off, horizontal bearing etc.
>>
>> For those unfamiliar the key differences between the
>> two instruments are:
>>
>> 1) both use the same frame and "running gear";
>>
>> 2) the Horizon Ultra has a whole horizon mirror,
>> polarisers in both sets of shade glasses and
>> Schueler's double prism to get verticality right. In
>> other words it's a specialist sun machine;
>>
>> 3) the Pelorus has standard shades, an astigmatiser
>> for stars and planets, and an unusual horizon mirror
>> that is about 70% silvered in the a centre vertical
>> strip and unsilvered on either side. It is designed to
be very
>> effective with dim stars but still OK brighter objects.
>>
>> I guess my current thinking is that t! he polarisers are
nice and
>> make sun brightness and horizon clarity very easy to get
just
>> right but that the Polaris is
>> proabably better for stars as it isn't hampered by the
known
>> issues of a whole horizon mirror. On balance what I want
is the
>> Pelorus with the polarisers as
>> well. I expect that verticality of the instrument will
not be an
>> issue when using the astigmatiser but that
>> you'll just have to rock like you always do when doing
sun/moon.
>>
>> Love to hear your views, and particularly if anyone
>> has used the Polaris or the Horizon Ultra.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Pelorus
>>
>> Send instant messages to your online friends
>> http://au.messenger.yahoo.com
