Navigation aid from 16th century was on seabed for centuries before being bought and sold in US and Australia
It spent hundreds of years languishing on the seabed off the Isles of Scilly in the far south-west of Britain before being hauled back to the surface by divers and setting off a circumnavigation of the world.
Finally the Pednathise Head astrolabe – a rare example of a 16th-century navigational instrument once used by sailors to determine latitude – is back on Scilly after being rediscovered on the other side of the Atlantic.
It turns out that after being sold and leaving the UK, the astrolabe passed through private collections in Australia and the US, its true identify forgotten along the way, before ending up in a museum on the Florida Keys.
“It’s been on quite a journey,” said Xavier Duffy, the curator of the Isles of Scilly Museum. “We’re thrilled to have it back on Scilly and in the care of the museum. We can’t wait to share its story with visitors.”
