Objects
(125 results)
Sort By:
The Seaport Museum’s collection of nautical instruments represents the disciplines of navigation, surveying, meteorology, engineering, cargo handling, aids to navigation, oceanography, seamanship, diving, fishing, whaling, ship and boat building tools, and warfare.
The instruments used for navigating and charting at sea include compasses, sextants, octants, calculators, chronometers, parallel rules, marine protractors, binoculars, telescopes and station pointers. The oldest object in the collection is an ivory 1625 portal sundial manufactured by Hans Tröschel II, or the Younger, (German, probably born 1599, died before 1634) from Nuremberg, Germany.
These artifacts are the testimony and a reminder that generations of artisans, carpenters, workers, riggers, and sailmakers used the South Street waterfront district as a place to craft, market, and export their wares.
