During the last discussion of sextants I happened to run into him in
Singapore and asked him if modern shipping still used celestial
navigation. He told me that on some ships junior officers still took
noon sights but only because the Captain felt it was a useful skill
for a ship's officer. Other ships didn't have a sextant aboard.


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)


The days of watching some relieving Mate come aboard with his sextant as
part of his gear, are over. However, a ship sextant and the pubs to use it
are still standard gear onboard.
Once again, it is not necessary to learn celestial for someone doing
offshore cruising, BUT, it is STILL a good safety practice to have the gear
(no matter how cheap) and the minimal pubs to make use of it in an
emergency