" 3 to 14" Box Sextant, Nautical Sextants, Round Nautical Sextants,   Nautical Sextants With Compasses. Wooden Boxes available, in various Shapes, Sizes & Designs

What is a sextant?

A sextant is an optical instrument used in navigation invented in 1730.
It measures the angle of celestial bodies above the horizon from the observer's position.
The sextant is so named because the early instrument had a
calibrated arc that is one-sixth of a circle -- a graduated 60° arc.
[Sex is a prefix that means six, from Latin.] Knowing the angular elevation
of a known star, and the exact time, one can calculate the Latitude position
of the observer.