A mid Victorian presentation artificial horizon in mahogany box

JOHN CRICHTON, LONDON; CIRCA 1860

Details

A mid Victorian presentation artificial horizon in mahogany box
John Crichton, London; circa 1860
Contained in mahogany box the top with applied brass presentation plaque inscribed Greenwich Hospital School 1862 Presented to William Sugden, mahogany mercury trough with bone fittings, turned boxwood mercury container (now empty) with bone funnel to top with threaded section to screw into mercury trough, inside the top lid trade label of John Crichton Manufacturer of Mathematical Optical & Nautical Instruments To The Hons. East India Company & To The Hons. Corp of Trinity House 112 Leadenhall Street London, the prismatic shaped oxidised brass glazed windshield inscribed Crichton London and Greenwich Hospital Schools 1862 Presented to William Sugden
Box 200 mm. wide

Lot Essay

William Sugden subsequently entered the Royal Navy as a Lieutenant (Navigation).
The principal use of the artificial horizon was for use on shore to obtain the rates of chronometer by "Equal Altitude Sights" using a sextant, times of observation being taken from a deckwatch which was later compared with the chronometers onboard ship.

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