TWO MIRRORS: THE STORY OF THE INVENTION OF THE SEXTANT

Grenville D. Zerfass

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	In its own inexorable way the restless sea decides what it will permit man to do and what it will deny him. The instruments that navigators would use it examines and approves or rejects. It said "No" to astrolabes, common quadrants, and pendulum clocks. It required that compasses and chronometers be mounted in gimbals. For centuries it challenged man to tell precisely where he was when out of sight of land. Though it accepted teh cross-saff, the back-staff, and the mariner's bow, it probalby did so ironically, for all three were not particularly efficient or adaptable for accurate ocean navigation.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 3, Number 4
Pages:	131 - 137
Cite this article:	Zerfass, Grenville D., "TWO MIRRORS: THE STORY OF THE INVENTION OF THE SEXTANT", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 3, No. 4, 1952-1953, pp. 131-137.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In