Sextant

A sailor lined up the sun and the horizon with mirrors, and the angle read on the arc gave the ship's latitude.

Date: 1856-1866
Maker: E. & G. W. Blunt
Place: United States: New York, New York City
Materials: mahogany (overall material); copper (overall material)
Dimensions: radius: 7 1/2 in; 19.05 cm; overall in box: 5 1/2 in x 16 3/8 in x 10 13/16 in; 13.97 cm x 41.5925 cm x 27.46375 cm
Others named in the record: Mason, Theodorus B. M. (user)
Museum: National Museum of American History
Credit line: Mrs. Julian James

Sextant with a silvered scale graduated every 10 minutes from -5° to +155° and read by vernier with tangent screw and swinging magnifier to 10 seconds. The inscription reads "E. & G. W. Blunt, New York." Theodorus Bailey Myers Mason (1848-1899), a career naval officer, probably acquired this sextant in 1865 when he graduated from the Naval Academy at Newport, R.I. Mason's sister Cassie (Mrs. Julian) James, a Washington socialite, gave it to the Smithsonian.

The museum's own record (Smithsonian, National Museum of American History)

Sextant

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