NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: C+P Navy Mk Iii
From: Joel Jacobs
Date: 2004 Mar 20, 16:34 -0500
From: Joel Jacobs
Date: 2004 Mar 20, 16:34 -0500
Peter, I don't know where you got your information, but my company, Nautech Maritime Corp of Chicago, Il, bid on the Navy contract for the MK III, and it went to David White of Milwaukee. They also had a subsidiary, survivor or successor company called something like Scientific Instruments, Milwaukee, WI which made the Mod 2. You can read about this experience at: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2561519492&category=37971 I was away from sextants from 1978 until just recently, but I was of the opinion that the W&H sextant was made by Cassens & Plath. I will not bet the farm on that one, but I will on who made the USN MK III Mod 0 unless what you say occurred while we were out of the country, 1978 - 1984, and during the following years when I was not involved with sextants in any manner. Joel Jacobs ----- Original Message ----- From:To: Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 4:07 PM Subject: Re: C+P > To add my two cents to Kieren and Robert's explaination of C. Plath's > relationship to Cassens & Plath, there was a similar situation with Weems & > Plath of Washington, DC (later Annapolis, MD). After World War II, C. Plath > went through a very difficult rebuilding period. With the decline of German > shipping, they looked to gain a foothold in the US market. In 1953 they > formed a partnership with P.V.H. Weems to sell C. Plath sextants and > compasses, calling the venture Weems & Plath. > > Since the US Navy would not purchase foreign-made instruments, Lowe, Inc., > of New York was contracted to build sextants under license from C. Plath and > bearing the Weems & Plath name. The US Navy Mark III sextant was a > Lowe-built Plath. > > -- Peter