Lol, fair enough & point taken. Guess I did wake up with my panties twisted or whatever.
But I do think a plastic sextant is good enough for yachties and novices.
[QUOTE=U.S. Marine (ret);85661]Thanks for the info gentlemen. I will check out both Rob White and Celestaire for purchasing options. With regard to the Astra, does anyone have other comments about experiences with this instrument? Also, any other input about where to shop around for a used sextant and recommendations for market price for the brands mentioned above? Teaching myself celnav has become a bit of a hobby seeing as it has atrophied to somewhat of a dying art.[/QUOTE]
When you first decide to take-up golf, most seasoned golfers will tell you to buy a cheap set of clubs; Get a starter set to make sure you will use them more than once, or even like the sport with minimum investment. The Astra IIIB is like that. It’s ok, but not premium by any means. It’s definitely a good starter sextant, or the only one a novice will ever need. You cannot go wrong with that either, you can always sell it for 65-70% of what you paid.
I had one and got rid of it.
[QUOTE=anchorman;85745]When you first decide to take-up golf, most seasoned golfers will tell you to buy a cheap set of clubs; Get a starter set to make sure you will use them more than once, or even like the sport with minimum investment. The Astra IIIB is like that. It’s ok, but not premium by any means. It’s definitely a good starter sextant, or the only one a novice will ever need. You cannot go wrong with that either, you can always sell it for 65-70% of what you paid.
I had one and got rid of it.[/QUOTE]
I say if you can afford it, buy a Plath just to “own” one! I have a shop full of Rockwell stationary power tools when Craftsman or Grizzly would suffice fine but I am proud to know I have the best there is (mostly all found on Craigslist at a fraction of their real value as well!). There is something about a tool build well and solid that lends a feeling of being more capable to do the “hard” jobs.
c.captain you continue to say the Discoverer grounded when the USCG investigation said it did not. Why continue to knowingly lie? You cut an run after throwing a hissey fit on the Disco and anyone and everyone there knows the real you. Do you have a job? I wonder at the amount you post. I’m sure you lead a very full life.
[QUOTE=MasterMike;85965]c.captain you continue to say the Discoverer grounded when the USCG investigation said it did not. Why continue to knowingly lie? You cut an run after throwing a hissey fit on the Disco and anyone and everyone there knows the real you. Do you have a job? I wonder at the amount you post. I’m sure you lead a very full life.[/QUOTE]
Whomever you might be SIR, the NOBLE DISCOVERER’s skeg grounded and the USCG lied to cover Shell’s ass. The photos prove all to me and I believe most others (certainly those present in DH) or do you have some miracle answer that divine intervention stopped that ship mere inches before the stern touched bottom? Pray tell us it if you do!
My home was burglarized many years back and they got my '83 C.Plath AND my fathers WWII bubble sextant; not to mention the stainless steel Mini-14. Sweet instrument that.
Welcome Aboard Master Mike. Obviously you know c.captain personally as your words ring with truth about his character. By the grace of god I have had never to suffer his presence in real life.
He LIVES on this board, even the Thai boy porn sites can no longer stir his urges as they did before. And I can attest to you that on this board he is a little bitch of the first water, and acts accordingly. His nearest peer in bitchdom has no choice but to jealously watch him glow on the mountaintop and wait for him to die.
I do not know the particular details of this grounding, so I can not comment. I did find it interesting that he doesn’t even deny acting like the little ho that he is and throwing a fit aboard the vessel.
Thank you sir for helping to bring the truth about him to light. He has a bunch of lackeys around her latched on to one of those 6 to 10 nipples nursing. So mama will sic them on you, of course. But by no means is everyone round here like that. Unless he reads this and checks himself he will call you a clown or a stooge and then cut and paste a little picture of a clown or the 3 stooges and attach it to his post in response to you. Odd to be sure… some sort of a cry for help or something is my best guess. I hope you are able to get some small amount of rest knowing what a fearsome response you might well have provoked from mama dog here.
Ah my favorite swampman is back I see…
I also see that you’ve put on some weight since we met last…gotta lay off all those deepfried roadkill swampcreatures you eat. Food like that is terrible for your health you know but then again swamp people don’t live long lives anyway. What with that and the smoking and horrible personal hygene, I am amazed any of you people live to be 40 even. I just pity the kids!
I do want to commend you though for your usual ugly invective…shows you are still the nasty little venom spitting horny toad you’ve always been. Keep up the fine work representing your kind!
see y’all in the funny papers!
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It’s called the official USCG report not the idiots rant than you continue on. If Shell had that kind of influence with governmental agencies, why didn’t they do whatever they wanted in the Arctic? Blink a couple dozen times and twirl your mustache and say “there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”.
[QUOTE=MasterMike;86038]It’s called the official USCG report not the idiots rant than you continue on. If Shell had that kind of influence with governmental agencies, why didn’t they do whatever they wanted in the Arctic? Blink a couple dozen times and twirl your mustache and say “there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”.[/QUOTE]
You’re just attempting to use smoke to hide all this incompetence behind and some finding from the USCG which did not come from the MSD on scene but instead from a USCG public relations office in DC is not even of Charmn quality. I’ve spoken with the people I know in DH who were there at the time and even the local MSD was saying around at the time but got told by District HQ immediately afterwards to not say anything public. Common knowledge throughout the community up there who are very experienced and knowledgable was that the ship grounded. Others who post here at this forum were there at the time and they were all saying aground. Word has trickled to me that even aboard the vessel they were saying aground. All photos show a ship aground. The timeline of events points to a ship which had gone aground.
All the different scenarios which could have taken place have already been discussed in great detail in this earlier thread already and I’m not going to go through them all again here now. I asked you before to give us your specific theory where some divine intervention by the unseen “Hand of God” suddenly brought the movement of the ship astern to a stop only inches from grounding? Explain how all the photos we see of the ship sitting there motionless ass to the shore only yards away are wrong?
I have the perponderance of annecdotal and direct evidence on my side and you have toilet paper handed to you by God.
Well I say that you are trying to hide behind a smoke screen put up by some USCG report which doesn’t have the value of a piece of quality toilet paper. Maybe generic Walmart brand but not Charmin.
Let me ask you first if you believe every Coast Guard finding or any other report issued by our government is never tainted by the interests of big business? That if the government issued it that IT MUST BE TRUE! Really, it’s from the government so why on earth wouldn’t it be true? I mean, our government NEVER, EVER tells the people lies now…does it?
Now, let me also state that I have spoken with several people who were there that day in DH. To a man they state the stern of the ship grounded. These people are mariners by profession so their opinions are informed ones. In the original thread on this incident posters there that day say aground. The editor of the paper in DH told me that USCG MSD personnel were saying aground until District HQ in Kodiak countermanded them and then took over all releases to the public the same day. I also have heard that even aboard the ship itself, the people aboard were saying aground (except for Captain Niedermeyer I suppose). All the photographic evidence points to aground. The timeline of events indicates a ship aground. In our lengthy discussion on this here, we covered almost every conceivable scenario that could have occurred and I don’t want to rehash them here but let me just ask, if the DISCO did not ground, pray give us a version where the “Hand of God” intervened to stop that ship dragging astern just in the nick of time with its stern motionless mere feet from where the water depth equalled the after draft of the ship? We know that a tug didn’t rescue the ship and we know that they didn’t get the main going either. All we see in the photos is a ship sitting there motionless with its stern right there close enough for a person to hit it with a rock. Your version must involve some great mysterious magnetic force suddenly stopping the ship in its tracks and holding it there rock steady until the LOREN FOSS could come along 45minutes later and make up to the ND. And not just stopping in and holding it like it did, but doing it just inches from the bottom. SHAZZAM! Who said that miracles don’t happen anymore?
So, I have all the preponderance of both direct and annecdotal evidence to support my position and you have a piece of asswipe handed to you by God!
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Out of ignorance of the situation I decided to google the incident. Anyone that does so in my opinion would come to the assumption that the Discovery grounded. Eyewitness accounts with tons of photo evidence to draw your own conclusions.
Grab a C&P while you can, alot of their nav tools are starting to be made in China I dont know about the sextants. I wish I still had my Danish C&P nav triangles, they were better quality.
This instrument right here is the Mercedes Benz 300SL of sextants and not even overpriced for the rich like one either! I’ve used this same sextant before in my life and speak lovingly of it’s accuracy and helf! I do have to say though that I am skeptical about this one being a 1949 model…I’d say a 1960 or abouts but I could be wrong…
For only a few dollars more than a Celestaire you can have this masterpiece of a fine craftsman’s tool to use!
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This thread inspired me to go through my stash. This 1944 David White [ATTACH]2614[/ATTACH] replaced my old Heath around 1971. I had my workbook with it the last time I moved but it seems to have disappeared.
You put out a valid question. Who determined that the rig didn’t ground? Was it the USCG investigators? Was it the divers who dove on the bottom, looking for evidence? Who exactly are the divers holding allegience to? The CG? The Vessel? Or THE COMPANY WHO HIRED THEM?
Do you really think the CG sent an underwater qualified specialist there to dive on her? Not likely. So the concept that an ‘investigation’ was swayed or influenced is not just possible. It is highly probable.
[QUOTE=cappy208;86240]You put out a valid question. Who determined that the rig didn’t ground? Was it the USCG investigators? Was it the divers who dove on the bottom, looking for evidence? Who exactly are the divers holding allegience to? The CG? The Vessel? Or THE COMPANY WHO HIRED THEM?
Do you really think the CG sent an underwater qualified specialist there to dive on her? Not likely. So the concept that an ‘investigation’ was swayed or influenced is not just possible. It is highly probable.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the support Cappy but I have shut this rube down right quick… He’s got NOTHING and he knows it!
btw, got some intelligence today from a confederate spy at Noble which has given me the greatest of amusement.
And sounds like not staying with the Disco may have been a god sent.
I hear it is an absolute shit show/nightmare. They are stacking her up in Seward, AK
and it has been a complete disaster for everyone associated with that ship.
That’s going to be a lovely winter for all that lot there…it couldn’t happen to a better bunch! Now where will they moor her? Probably at the Coal Dock and nobody will get to go to town either! HA! Serves them right. Of course, they have to get to Seward first without rolling over. Not hard at all and with lots of places to hole up for weather if necessary but for a master who has no idea then it is going to be a long icky ride outside exposed to the weather. I wonder if he even has what it takes to handle Shelikof Strait and the “toilet bowl” at the Barren Islands? Some of the worse seas in all of Alaska right there! Local knowledge sure can make a big difference between a good trip and hell! Ah, Shell will probably spring for a couple of SW pilots to take the ship the whole way. It would be money well spent.
Life is so VERY sweet today!
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Except for Cappy you guys are all idiots. The USCG report was not written that way because of shell’s influence it was written because of the USCG’s incompetence. Look at ANY uscg report about any MODU, they have ALL missed the point.
OK, there was one single report the USCG got right, Glomar Java Sea incident report. Why? Because all the witnesses died. All the other reports came from witness testimony that was incomplete and false. So why does the NOBLE DISCOVERER report say the ship didn’t ground? For the simple reason that’s what the crew and divers shell hired told the investigators.
Plus this incident pales in comparison to other white wash attempts like my employer’s remarks to the Coast Guard after the COMPLETE LOSS of the engine room aboard the Discoverer Deep Seas. The “captain” in charge of that ship not only avoided punishment but got a big pat on the back and promotion for not killing anyone with his incompetance while the person who warned the company that serious problems were brewing, gCapt’s own fearless leader, got a rectal exam and a pink slip.
[QUOTE=cappy208;86240]
Do you really think the CG sent an underwater qualified specialist there to dive on her? [/QUOTE]
First off you don’t need to hire divers. I almost guarantee that shell sent an ROV down to take a look. I can also guarantee that Shell didn’t share the ROV tapes with the Coast Guard.
I mean if the CG too dumb to ask BP for ROV photographs of the Deepwater Horizon before their bogus incident report why would they bother with ROV photos after a simple grounding?
Find me who at the USCG has the Deepwater Horizon wreck photos and I’ll tell you who is in the industry’s pocket.
I bought my Plath sextant in the MM&P Union Hall in Mobile Al. in 1968. It was made in Hamburg in the 50s. It came with the original wooden box. I have it in storage in New Orleans[I].[/I]I retired from MM&P and now live in San Jose, Costa Rica. I haven’t been back to the States in years. Could someone tell me how much it would be worth? Practically every year I would send it Baker Lyman in NOLA to have it cleaned and adjusted, if needed. I also had it re-blacked one time.