NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Martin Caminos
Date: 2023 Jan 2, 20:53 -0800
Just to add to Frank's link to the Maritime Museum in London that mentions that Captain Scott used a theodolite (instead of a sextant), attached is a very interesting article from the Geographical Journal written in 1944 about the observations of Amundsen and Scott in the race to the south pole.
This article also confirms that Amundsen's expedition used a sextant, and Scott’s navigator (called Bowers) used a theodolite.
Also, this article has many of the measurements taken by Scott’s expedition along the route, so it is very interesting to read and even run the calculations.
By the way, earlier last year (2022), I had the opportunity to visit the Maritime Museum in London, and the Polar exhibition has a great collection of astronomical instruments used during both the Artic and Antartic explorations.
I hope this adds value to the discussion.
Martin Caminos
