[BITList] Fwd: Sextants

[Michael Feltham]

John,

Navigators at Sea are now being trained in the use of Sextants as I believe that it is very easy to upset a Sat Nav receiver.  The USCG have restored the practice of using Sextants for their Certificates of Competency.

Mike
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: John Feltham <wantok at me.com>
> Subject: [BITList] Fwd: Sextants
> Date: 27 April 2016 at 13:38:37 BST
> To: BITList <BITList at lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com>
> Reply-To: BitList <bitlist at lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com>
> 
> 
> 
> From a correspondent…
>  
> 
> That sextant belonging to the Master of the Carpathia had appeared recently on Antiques Road Show.  Shame the family decided to sell it.
> 
> My first encounter with sat nav was a Garmin in the ‘80s,   when we were still using Decca nav.,  albeit by 1983 not Decca made receivers.  When the owner of my ship, a Norwegian, said that the annual hire of one of Decca’s own Navigators was then (1983)  £2,000 p.a. whereas he could buy a non-Decca made receiver for the same price, smaller, easier to use, and just as good.  Of course, that eventually led to the end of Decca navigation.   
> In the ‘80s   I was in the North Sea so the Decca was still a viable option.
> 
> I was still teaching apprentices (and engineers with an interest in astronomy) to use a sextant in the late ‘70s.
> 
> I always regretted selling my sextant when B.P. Shipping started suppling them to their ships because by then we had to fly aboard to join a ship,
> and so I later jumped at a chance to buy a bulk standard Hezzanith when offered one by a friend.
> I never did like the lightness of the later alloy sextants, much preferring the weight of the brass models.
> I used my gt. uncle’s station master’s whistle for sights.
> 
> I stupidly turned down an octant in Dundee because in ignorance I thought it should have had a telescope.
> It was for sale at £80 (1984) and compete apart from its box…big mistake.
> 
> I did buy one of those tiny barrel / pocket sextants, 2 1/4” diam.,  brass;  a reproduction, and surprisingly accurate.
> 
> 
> 
> an original 19th. c. model which is much more expensive.
> 
> 
>> On 26 Apr 2016, at 14:34, John Feltham <wantok at me.com <mailto:wantok at me.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-36062539 <http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-36062539>
>> 
>> Sextants were still used when I went to sea in 1954. And I would assume for quite some time after that.
>> 
>> 
>> ooroo
>> 
>>  
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> To unsubscribe from this email List, send an email to:
> BITList-unsubscribe at lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com
> 
> BITList mailing list
> BITList at lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com
> http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/mailman/listinfo/bitlist
> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20160427/ea693b29/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Sextant-boxsext2.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 37120 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20160427/ea693b29/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: original.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 80625 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20160427/ea693b29/attachment-0003.jpg>