Sextant

This four-inch sextant (pictured here in its fitted wooden case) was made by Cary of London in 1901. It was used to take bearings on the British Antarctic Expedition of 1901-4, and carried by Captain Robert Falcon Scott's team across the land mass in an early unsuccessful attempt to reach the South Pole.

The sextant's portability was increased by its compact size. Being made of an aluminium alloy, it was both lightweight and strong. The sextant has one erecting telescope, one pin-hole telescope, one inverting telescope with two eye-pieces, and two coloured eye-shades.

Aluminium was one of the new materials coming into regular use in the second half of the 19th century. Here, the low thermal capacity of the metal meant that the user's fingers would not freeze to it. However, the instrument design is clearly derived from an older traditional pattern.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-190-004-729-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1911.34
• Date: 1901
  
• Material: Silver. Inscription: HO [upward pointing arrow] 21 [Admiralty mark]
  Specimen / nautical instrument / sextant
  
• Dimensions: 4.00" radius
  
• What: Specimen / nautical instrument / sextant
  
• Subject:
• Who: Admiralty (Owner)
  Cary, London (Instrument maker)
  
• Where: England, London
  
• Event: Antarctic Expedition
  
• Description: One of a collection of surveying, nautical, astronomical, meteorological and drawing instruments - a sextant, marked, made by Cary of London, as used on the Antarctic Expedition, 1901
  
• References:
  • A.D. Morrison-low, R.H. Nuttall and A.D.C. Simpson, 'Ten Important Twentieth-Century Items from the History of Science Collections of the National Museums of Scotland', Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No 63 (1999), pp 23-8 
  • Anita McConnell, Aluminium and its Alloys for Scientific Instruments, 1855-1900', Annals of Science 46 (1989), pp 611-620. 
  • For aluminium instruments, see John Burnett, 'The Use of New Materials in the Manufacture of Scientific Instruments c.1880-c.1920', in J.T. Stock and M.V. Orna (eds.), The History and Preservation of Chemical Instrumentation Dordrecht, 1986,pp.217-238. 
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