@rachel@norfolk.social
A pendulum! This jogs my brain to an apparently-random #memory, likely from #JamesBurke's #TheDayTheUniverseChanged series, about how #latitude was easy to determine via the skies, but that #longitude could not be measured until timepieces that did NOT require a #pendulum to drive it were invented.
Pendulum movement isn't very functional on a rolling #ship, after all.
And at that moment, the name of the item
I held and it's purpose snapped vividly to mind: it was a #sextant!
5/x
@rachel@norfolk.social
Again, I live nowhere near a sea or ocean. I've never seen an actual #sextant in real life, just ones in movies or illustrations.
And those sextants were always shiny #brass, not #plastic!
But now that I understood the object's purpose, I also realised that #plastic was an excellent #medium for using in a #boat or #ship: it won't rust or corrode from #water or #salt.
6/x
@rachel@norfolk.social
I decided to buy it. It was less than $5 #Canadian so not a big deal for an impulse purchase.
A few minutes later I came across the #sextant's box, complete with a carved-#foam interior, so old that the foam was starting to crumble to dust.
The box was priced separately, at something like $12.
When I went to the cashier, I showed that the two items clearly belonged together and could I get a discount on them as a single item? The manager let me have both for the price of the box.
7/x
@rachel@norfolk.social
So that is the story of how I happened to acquire a modern #sextant for only $12.
When I came home and could browse the Internet (this was long before I had data access on my phone), I discovered that yes, it was missing a tube or scope at the eyepiece section, but was otherwise complete.
I have been either busy or ill since acquiring it but do fully intend and expect to play around with it one of these days.
But I still laugh at myself for my brain being so misled by the sextant's material (dark plastic) and my general unfamiliarity with the devices (on the #landlocked #prairies ).
Clearly the charity store didn't recognise it either, or I'm sure it wouldn't have been casually tossed among miscellanea for $5, but behind glass at a rather higher price. 😂
Best of luck to you on your quest to borrow a sextant! 🙂
❤
️
8/fin
Likely Jan Lukas