NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Brendan Kinch
Date: 2012 Mar 18, 03:23 +0100
This appears to be a Sounding Sextant.....used for taking horizontal angle measurements. Note the absence of shades (you could not shoot the sun with this!) and also the fact (as far as I can see anyway) that the horizon mirror is not half plain glass. This mirror also appears small, in keeping with sighting one (shore) object over the mirror.
Kinch.
From: navlist-bounce@fer3.com [mailto:navlist-bounce@fer3.com] On Behalf Of Noell Wilson
Sent: 18 March 2012 01:29
To: NavList@fer3.com
Subject: [NavList] F. J. Lemcke vernier sextant on eBay
There is an interesting vernier sextant on eBay now:
# 390399265972
It's a Dutch vernier with several unusual features:
Legs are on the front so you can put it down with the handle up.
It only has 1 degree marks on the arc, 0 to 60' on the vernier, but 5' steps on the vernier. Was that considered close enough if you weren't doing lunars?
Flat brass/bronze construction. No stiffning ribs, Light delicate construction.
There is a precise looking screw adjustment on the horizon mirror.
I don't see a tangent screw. I can't tell if the screw on the arm just locks the arm and it has to be positioned manually or if the screw rolls against the underside of the arc. There are no teeth on the outer rim of the arc.
This is a nicely made and appropriately priced ($435) sextant - not crude junk. I can't reconcile the 5' marks and what appears to be rough positioning of the arm with the rest of the well thought out features.
Any ideas?
Regards, Noell Wilson
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