The octant has an ebony frame and limb with a brass index arm, fittings, and a brass stop for the index arm. It also has inlaid ivory plates on the crossbar and on the back of the frame. There is no tangent screw and the clamping screw is located on the back of the frame. The octant has three socket shades in red, green, and orange. Index-glass adjustment is made by a screw and on both horizon glasses by levers, wing nuts, and milled clamping screws. The sight vane has two pinholes and a swivelling shutter, whereas the back sight vane has one pinhole. A pencil or screwdriver is missing is from the crossbar. A decorative engraved floral pattern is found at the bottom of the index arm. The octant has no box.

The instrument has an inlaid ivory scale from -5° to 95° by 20 arcminutes, measuring to 89.5°. The octant has an ivory vernier measuring to 1 arcminute, with zero at the centre.