#navigationtools

I wasn’t supposed to touch it.

It was locked away in a cedar box with a note: “Only to be used under moonlight, and never when the tide is low.”

The brass was still warm. The dials turned without resistance—as if something on the other end was guiding me.

It doesn't point North. Never has. Just spins slow... and points somewhere deeper.

My uncle said he got it from a shop that specializes in maritime salvage. But he won’t tell me the name.

⚓ Would you follow it?

(Found this piece through a niche antique supplier. Perfect for collectors of the strange & stellar.)

In the past, people would hold a sextant in their hands to determine the angle that the horizon formed with respect to the sun, moon, or stars. Prior to the development of contemporary navigation systems such as GPS, it was a crucial instrument for ships to determine their latitude and chart their voyage over the seas.

An eyepiece, horizon glass, and a moveable arm make up the sextant. The user would use the movable arm to align the image of the celestial object with the horizon after sighting it through the horizon glass. The instrument's scale may then be used to read the object's angle with respect to the horizon.

With this angle measured and the time in hand, navigators could use celestial navigation methods and tables provided in books to determine their latitude. Even in the middle of the enormous oceans, before satellite navigation became accessible, sextants allowed sailors to precisely map their position and route by measuring the ship's speed and direction.