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

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.

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Online ID:	000-100-102-679-C
Image Rights Holder:	National Museums Scotland
Project:	0098: 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:
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
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