Naval telescope

This is a hand-held achromatic telescope of a type that was commonly used on ships in the 19th century. It has a tapering barrel covered in leather, a single brass draw tube and brass fittings including a pivoted eyepiece cover and an objective lens cap. The maker’s name is inscribed on the draw tube as ‘Cary London’. The barrel also contains a printed chart of the signal flags used by mariners at this time. This chart was produced by George Stebbing & Son, Portsmouth.