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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Before the invention of the handle
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2014 Nov 7, 17:41 -0800
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2014 Nov 7, 17:41 -0800
The sextant handle is the revenge of the left-handed navigator. But once upon a time, there were no handles, and in old works of art you can see that navigators used to grab the instrument by the frame out below the horizon glass, and it didn't matter if you were left or right-handed. I got an email this evening from the New Bedford Whaling Museum, on an entirely non-navigational topic, that was illustrated with a neat photo of a little statuette holding a quadrant (octant) that looks like you could probably use it for real sights. Attached.
-FER
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