Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1918-02-20
United States Swept Bare of In
strumentS Used te Guide
Ships.
OLD CAPTAINS TO RESCUE
Out of Closets and Attics Are Dug
Sextants That Have Not Been Used
for Years-Navisators Aid CO.
lumbus Did Not Have.

NaSnlngtOD--OUe VI Tic carry ei'
fects of the war was an acute short.
age of the instrument most used In
navigating ships at sea, the sextant
In a few weeks after the United
States became a party to the great
struggle, the market was swept bare
of what might be termed the floating
supply of these important instruments.
Since then, importations from Eng
land, Canada and France have eased
the American market somewhat, but
there is still sufficient shortage to
hold the price far above what 1t for
merly was.
In the early months Of this coun-
try's participation In the war, when
the United States shipping board was
establishing the chain Of navigation
schools at which it is training Off
GERS for the new merchant marine,
there was such a scarcity of these
necessary instruments-which are
used daily in the schools to teach
methods of determining ships posi-
ton at sea-that an appeal was made
for the loan of instruments.
The result was striking. Out of the
closets and attics of former captains
homes, particularly in New England.
sextants appeared that had not seen
the light, in some cases, since the days
of the clipper-ship era, when the Unit
ed States was supreme on the sea.
Many of these instruments had been
90 hn lori
East; others had been in the whale
fishery to the far North; a few had
been carried among the Cannibal
islands of the South Pacific, others
among the pirates of the China seas.
1t had not been thought, when these
instruments were slowed away by
careful hands, years ago. that they
would ever again serve the merchant
marine. Today many of them are be-
ing used by young men who will quail
fly as officers on the new and greater
merchant marine, while others, which
have been presented to the shipping
board, are actually making voyages
again, this time among the pirates Of
the submarine zone.
A sextant, unlike a watch or any
instrument with constantly moving
parts, is very slow to wear out. There
Is not much difference In the sextant
of today and the original sextants pro-
duced in England when the instru-
ment was first perfected by John
Hadley, back in 1871.
First Was an octant.
Hadley called his instrument at first
an octant, because it represented in
its scale of degrees but an eighth part
of the circle, that is, As degrees. Later
instruments were termed quadrants,
as they represented q quarter of a cir
Gle, 80 degrees. The sextant, or sixth
of a circle, go degrees, was found to
be most practical, and in time came
into general use. The practical dis
tinction between these three instru-
ments is slight. however.
The first sextant was not an inven-
ton. as might be supposed, but an
adaptation of ancient instruments
used by astronomers from time imme-
mortal to determine the suns eleva-
ton, or latitude. The oldest of these
ancient instruments was the astrolabe
a disk of copper or brass, cut to the
full circle of 360 degrees. This was
fitted with a plumb line, and on its
face bar piyoted on the center, and
having at one end a pin. One man
held up the disk by the line, another
sighted the sun over the pin In the end
Of ha har
the shadow cast by the pin fell on
the scale of degrees marked on the
disk.
1t thus took three men to make an
observation, which was usually faulty
while the use of such an instrument
on moving ship was almost an i'm
possibility.
Another ancient observing instru.
ment WIS the cross-staff. This consist.
ed of bar of wood--some of them
were seven feet long-fitted with O
sliding upright bar, or cross. The
long bar was held toward the sun, and
the observer was posted at one end
The shorter bar was then moved bach
or forth until the observer saw the
sun over Its upper tip and the hori
zon at the same time under its lowel
tip. The angle thus determined was
marked on a scale on the long bar.
A grave objection to this instru
ment was that the observer wa
obliged to look at the sun and tn,
horizon at the same time.
Columbus used both instruments oil
his voyage to the new world, but ap
parently neither helped him much II
determining the position of his ships
which he could only guess at until b
made landfall in the West Indies.
HadIey Invents instrument.
John Hadley conceived the idea o
employing the principle of the cross
staff in an instrument that would en-
able the observer to see both tn
sun and the horizon when looking a
the latter. This he accomplished b.