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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Sextant stands; was Lunar Distances: Graphic Methods
From: Robert Eno
Date: 2004 Apr 25, 10:49 -0400
From: Robert Eno
Date: 2004 Apr 25, 10:49 -0400
Kieran, I don't suppose you have this catalogue scanned in electronic format do you? As a long-time Plath adherent, I would love to have a gander at this catalogue. Robert ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kieran Kelly"To: Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 4:38 AM Subject: Re: Sextant stands; was Lunar Distances: Graphic Methods > No they weren't custom made. Royal Navy hydrographers used them when taking > shore based lunar distance observations and you can find them occasionally > mentioned on exploration manifests. They were manufactured by Troughton, > Cary and Dolland to name a few and usually came in a leather case as a kit > including stand, sextant and artificial horizon. I have a Plath catalogue > from the 1920's where they were still making and selling stands. There is an > excellent example in the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney. It however is > a surveying octant and a very large and heavy one. the stand was necessary > to support the weight of the very large instrument. > > Pictures of the stands are shown in Ifland's Taking the Stars, pages 126, > 127 and 136. > > I have been trying to buy a sextant stand for years to no avail so if any > old surveyor has one in the garage I would like to hear from you. In all the > time I have been collecting sextants I have never seen a stand offered on E > bay and that's saying something given the plethora of stuff that washes > through its sextant site. > > Kieran Kelly > Sydney > >