The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1918-02-22
United States Swept Bare Of In
struments Used to Guide
Ships.
OLD CAPTAINS TO RESCUE
Out Of Closets and Attics Are Dug
Sextants That Have Not Been Used
for vears-Navioators' Aid CO.
lumbus Did Not Have.

Neutrality-suspicious. Of the early eff.
fects OF the war was IN acute short.
age Of the instrument most used In
navigating ships ut sea, the sextant.
In q few weeks after the United
States became q 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 q 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 st which it is training off,
GERS for the new merchant marine,
there was such q scarcity of these
necessary instruments-which are
used daily In the schools to teach
methods OF determining a ships posi-
ton ut 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 e
the light, In some cases, since the days
OF the clipper-ship er0, when the Unit
ed States was supreme on the sea.
Many Of these instruments had been
on long voyages to the mysterious
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.
It 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
lily 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 n
A sextant, unlike q watch or any
instrument with constantly moving
parts. IS very slow to wear out. There
IL 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 1t represented In
its scale Of degrees but an eighth pert
of the circle. that Is. As degrees. Later
instruments were termed quadrants.
as they represented a quarter of a cir
Gle, 90 degrees. The sextant, or sixth
Of q circle, 60 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, MS 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 $50 degrees. This was
fitted with q plumb line, and on its
face a bar pivoted on the center, and
having at one end a pin. One man
held up the disk by the line, another
sighted the run owe the pin In the end
Of the bar, and another noted where
the shadow cast by the pin fell on
the scale Of degrees marked on the
disk.
Il thus took three men to make an
observation, which was usually faulty.
while the use OF such IN instrument
on q moving ship was almost an i'm
possibility.
Another ancient observing instru-
ment was the cr0ss-sta6. This consist
ed Of 4 bar Of. wood-some Of them
were seven feet long-ftted with q
sliding upright bar, o cross. The
long bar was held toward the sun, and
the observer was posted at one end.
The shorter bar was then moved back
or forth until the observer saw the
Sun Ov01 40 0YRSA aR 0AAu NllO HUT.
ron at the same time under its lower
tip. The angle thus determined was
marked on q scale on the long bar.
A grave objection to this instru.
ment was that the observer was
obliged to look at the sun and the
hori1on at the same time.
Columbus used both instruments on
his voyage to the new world, but ap-
parently neither helped him much In
determining the position Of his ships,
which he could only guess at until he
made . landfaA in the West Indies.
Hadlsy lnveHts, instrument.
John Hadley conceived the idea OF
employing the principle OF the cross
gtan Ia an instrument that would en-
able the observer to zee both the
sun and the horizon when looking 1t
the latter. This 10 accomplished ~
arranging Z series Of mirrors In such
4 way that tho observer BY the move