Grandpa's Sextant
This is the most treasured item I retrieved from storage in the USA. At airport security, the scan operator paused, looked more closely… then smiled, nodded and let it go through.
It is Grandpa’s sextant.
Some type of fungus is growing in the coating on the lens, so I need to take it for cleaning. I haven’t done that yet, so it isn’t fully usable. Grandpa gave it to me because I was the kid in the family who learned to use it. Now I am refreshing my memory about how to use it so I can show other people how it works when it has been cleaned. After that, I will consider whether to donate it to an appropriate museum.
It started out on this island and has returned after a very long time.
Provenance: England #1728
Certified: November 1919
Manufactured: early in 20th century
It started out with some other owner (identity unknown).
Grandpa (Barnie P. Bobbitt) bought it from the “head inspector” at Steamboat Inspection Bureau in New Orleans in 1928 the day he passed his exam and got his original license as third mate. He became second mate later, and so on up to captain.
He used this sextant throughout his career until he took medical retirement 31 December 1960 when he was 57.
A sextant is used to “shoot” the sun, moon or stars for navigation. If you know exactly how far above the horizon a heavenly body is (which you can measure with the sextant) at a precise time (which is why a highly accurate chronometer is so important on a ship) and precise point of the compass, you can derive your location. Stars are most accurate, so Grandpa preferred them.
A sailor could get a glimpse of how good a captain was by the quality of his sextant. During Grandpa’s career, the finest in the world were from England and Germany. Grandpa’s was English. My father’s was, as I understand it, captured from the Nazis during World War II.
If you read Grandpa’s memoir (disclosure: this is an affiliate link), you know he was often vice commodore in convoys that brought fuel to Britain during World War II. This sextant helped him guide those convoys. It helped him navigate out of trouble on a couple of occasions when he had to somehow evade the Germans and get back to safer waters.
After his retirement, it helped educate me. I’ve always wanted to know how things work.
Global Positioning Systems are a shortcut. They let us find out where we are without knowing how it is done. Most of us only have a vague notion that it has something to do with special satellites.
Sailors, explorers and adventurous travelers these days mostly use GPS, but the most serious of them also know how to “navigate by the stars” for occasions when something goes wrong with modern technology. It could be any of several problems: dead battery, broken antenna, solar storm interfering with telecommunications, failing satellite, poor signal (e.g. in a canyon)… GPS needs everything working properly. If anything isn’t, either you know how to use the stars for navigation or you’re lost.
A fair portion of my career has required understanding something to that level, beneath the layers most people see, so I could make a system do something beyond what its specifications said should be its limits. It wasn’t ever magic. It has always simply been a matter of understanding the way things work.
If we have to credit that to someone or something, we’ve got a good candidate right here—Grandpa’s sextant and his willingness to teach a curious kid how to use it.
Oh, my! What a beauty! To hold something like that in your hands, knowing that it guided your ancestor around the seas and brought him home safely. It fills me with awe, wonder, admiration, and fascination.
Thank you, Bonnie!
Wow! What a beautiful instrument. Built to last; beautiful case also. It sparks my imagination thinking of how long humans have been navigating by the stars.