NavList:

Dear all,

the puzzle what SOLD stands for was discussed - if I remember well - some time ago on the list without results. When Willem Mörzer Bruijns prepared his magnificent "Sextants at Greenwich" he asked me whether I had any idea and I tried my best by contacting institutions in Germany like the "Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung" and the successor of the Plath company, but to no avail. Even the people at the "Wehrgeschichtliche Ausbildungszentrum" in Mürwik - where they have several SOLD-Sextants - couldn't help (they're very helpfull but not very well versed in the history of navigation anyway). And the leaflets in the boxes do not spell out the meaning either.

The archive of the Plath company doesn't exist anymore, probably lost in great part by the bombing of Hamburg in the summer of 1943; there is a private collection of Plath material in posssion of the author of the latest book on the firm, though. Maybe one should contact him and ask whether he can find out more from his material.

As Bill mentioned there are Russian copies of the SOLD sextants. I am attaching 2 pictures of examples you can see on board "Gorch Fock I", the sister ship of "Eagle" (ex "Horst Wessel"), "Sagres" (ex "Guanabara", ex "Albert Leo Schlageter"), "Mircea" and "Gorch Fock II". The original "Gorch Fock" was sunk in the Strelasund at the end of the war and salvaged by the Russian Navy. She then sailed as "Towarischtsch" until 1991 when she became a part of the Ukranian navy. After a couple of years she was supposed to be overhauled in the UK but that did not take place for lack of funds. Since 2003 she is owned by the Tall-Ship Friends and will be gradually restored in Stralsund. You can visit their web site here: https://www.gorchfock1.de/cms/front_content.php?idcat=29&lang=1. Fortunately most of the navigational equipment is preserved and can be seen in the small museum on board.

Best

Wolfgang

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