NavList:

Hi Dave. Very late but as I was searching for info on my Kelvin and Hughes three circle sextant and found your message from January. You were asking if anyone could validate the date of the certificate. I can tell you that my sextant is dated Sept. 1960 and has a serial number of 66715. So I guess that fits in quite well with the date and serial number of yours being three years later. Interestingly, mine is similar in style/looks/colour to your own 1941 model (albeit a newer look) and has a part brass arc but different to the 1963 model which has no brass in the arc and is grey in colour. They must have changed the design in the early 1960's. Further, I was on a cruise recently and had a conversation with the first mate who confirmed that they no longer use the sextant (all satelite now) and have stopped teaching practical navigation in marine schools. Not sure how true that is. Hope you pick this up and that it helps. All the best, Neville Partridge 

Thank you for the information.  I last saw Rodney four or five months ago, but it was at a funeral, so we didn’t get chance to talk.  As far as I know, the sextant’s still for sale.  Apparently, a sale to the USA was agreed, but Rodney wouldn’t accept Pay Pal, so it fell through.  Living inland and with my nearest coast facing east, I’m more of an aircraft sextant man myself.  I bought the Hughes because I always regretted allowing my mother to give my father’s sextant away when I was much younger.  The Hughes is a lovely instrument although I wish it had larger mirrors like more modern sextants.  I can’t see myself ever getting TIKI far enough offshore in future to be able to use it as designed, but I fiddle around with bowls of water, oil, and mirrors whenever I get the urge.  Dave