Main Page How a Sextant Works Navigation by Sextant Lifeboat Sextants Sextant or Octant Sextant Discussion Group

There has been a proliferation of so-called Lifeboat Sextants on e-Bay, and it’s important to be able to assess what you’re looking at before you buy. The lifeboat sextant usually refers to a Box Sextant. It’s a small sextant housed in a round housing that unscrews to reveal the sextant. They are about 3" in diameter, not accurate and usually are reproductions not real. The repros should sell for under $50 and a real one from $100 upwards.

Box sextants as lifeboat sextants.

These cylindrical sextants probably found primary use for land based exploration and rough map making. They were popular with nineteenth century gentleman scientists who liked to show off their knowledge of the stars to their friends. Box sextants were compact, lightweight, and easily stored and carried in their leather case with a shoulder strap or belt loop. They certainly would have been functional as lifeboat sextants but their leather cases, unsuitable for storage in the humid atmosphere of a lifeboat, suggests that lifeboat usage was not common.

Several authentic WWII vintage lifeboat sextants have appeared on e-Bay recently. These are simple, sturdy, inexpensive, conventionally shaped sextants commonly packed in a flat wooden box. They usually included a pamphlet giving instructions for simple navigation tasks.

Replica Sextants

The small brass replica sextants you see in perfusion on e-Bay billed as lifeboat sextants, again would have been functional as lifeboat sextants but their polished brass would not have been appropriate for storage in a modern lifeboat. The originals date back to the nineteenth century before aluminum alloys became available.