Electrotype of a mariner's astrolabe, associated with Spanish Armada

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A mariner's astrolabe was used to measure the sun's altitude at midday to obtain the observer's latitude. This electrotype, dating from around 1925, is of an unfinished instrument understood to have come from a Spanish Armada wreck of 1588.

The astrolabe's limb is graduated but the degrees have not been numbered. The circle scratched on the surface near the bottom appears to indicate a cavity to be turned out, perhaps to contain a small compass.

The original astrolabe was found in 1845 on the island of Valencia in Ireland, within view of the place where three Spanish Armada vessels were wrecked in 1588. It is now in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich in London.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-102-679-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1927.46
• Date: c. 1925
  Original: 16th century; Electrotype: Around 1925
  
• Material: Astrolabe, mariner's / reproduction
  
• Dimensions: 7.00" D
  
• What: Astrolabe, mariner's / reproduction
  
• Subject: 3. ASTRONOMY, Astrolabes (Departmental Classification)
  9. NAVIGATION (Departmental Classification)
  
• Who:
• Where: Ireland, County Kerry, Valentia
  
• Event:
• Description: Copper - bronze electrotype of a 16th century mariner's astrolabe, c. 1925
  
• References:
  • For the original, see Anderson, R.G.W., The Mariner's Astrolabe: An Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Museum. Edinburgh: HMSO, 1972, pp 22-3 
• Translations:
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