Cross Staff & Back Staff Geocoin

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Owner:
rubecula Send Message to Owner Message this owner
Released:
Friday, July 29, 2016
Origin:
Sachsen, Germany
Recently Spotted:
Unknown Location

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About This Item

A very early navigational instrument, the cross staff was widely used among surveyors and astronomers. It was not until the 1500s after it was developed further that it started to be used at sea.

The name is derived from its cross shape. It was cumbersome to use simply because a user had to focus on the horizon and star or sun at the same time; moving your eyes from one to the other and at the same time sliding the transversal (cross piece) until you achieved what you thought would be an accurate reading. It also required looking straight into the sun when taking daytime readings. It was with the invention of the back staff that these problems would be resolved.

John Davis invented a back staff in 1595 and his improved design became known as the Davis Quadrant. It rendered the cross staff obsolete since the user only had to take a sight at one object and didn't have to look at the sun to take a reading. Appropriately named, its basic design is like a cross staff, but with some enhancements. Daylight readings were taken by having your back towards the sun. In many cases, John Davis's invention ended up replacing not only the cross staff, but also the mariner's astrolabe and quadrant. It was in the late 1700s when the octant and sextant became the new preferred tools over the back staff.

Gallery Images related to Cross Staff & Back Staff Geocoin

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Tracking History (5032mi) View Map

Visited 2/22/2019 RQ54 took it to [DPE 2018] Een oude hond geen kunstjes leren 🐶 Noord-Brabant, Netherlands - 41.9 miles  Visit Log
Grab It (Not from a Cache) 2/22/2019 RQ54 grabbed it   Visit Log

Gevonden in Oosterhout.
Retrieve It from a Cache 12/9/2018 kepput retrieved it from Boswandeling!!! Noord-Holland, Netherlands   Visit Log

Beautiful coin, grabbed from boswandeling!!!. Will zoon continue iets journey
Dropped Off 11/17/2018 GeoCees placed it in Boswandeling!!! Noord-Holland, Netherlands - 21.38 miles  Visit Log

🙂
Discovered It 10/28/2018 nimmie53 discovered it Noord-Holland, Netherlands   Visit Log

Seen at the ECE-Event in Ede (NL) on 27-10-2018
Retrieve It from a Cache 10/27/2018 GeoCees retrieved it from Ede's Cache Event 2018 Gelderland, Netherlands   Visit Log

Op reis weer verder door de geo-wereld heen naar een nieuwe bestemming.
Thx for sharing 🙂
Discovered It 10/27/2018 Wimeta discovered it Gelderland, Netherlands   Visit Log

Gezien op of nabij het "Ede's Cache Event 2018" (GC7RTNA).
Bedankt voor het delen.
Discovered It 10/16/2018 Gumara discovered it Gelderland, Netherlands   Visit Log

Seen in the inventory from Ede's Cache Event 2018.
Dropped Off 10/16/2018 geo boefjes placed it in Ede's Cache Event 2018 Gelderland, Netherlands - 53.09 miles  Visit Log
Retrieve It from a Cache 9/22/2018 geo boefjes retrieved it from Grenslandevent '18 Noord-Brabant, Netherlands   Visit Log

je mag met ons mee verder
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