Dividers
Physical Object
1986.008.0611
Nuestra Señora de Atocha or Santa Margarita (1622)
circa 1620
A set of bronze dividers from the wreck of the 1622 galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha. These dividers were likely used by the pilots on the ship and were used to plot distances on a chart. The arms have a serrated pattern cast into the upper halves, apparently to improve the user’s grip. Semi-circular bows in the arms appear to have been a way to facilitate opening and closing the dividers with one hand. The points are missing, but the design of the arms makes it look like the tips were iron and removable. Although it is presumed that these shipboard dividers were for use in the pilot’s course-plotting tasks, similar devices were sometimes used by carpenters and other artisans as calipers.