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 plates on the crossbar and on the back of the frame, both of which are missing. There is no tangent screw and the clamping screw is on the back of the index arm. The octant has three socket shades, two red, and one green. These are probably not original to this instrument, and a second set, two red and one green, is possibly also from another octant. Index-glass adjustment is made by a screw and on both horizon glasses by screws and levers. The sight vane has two pinholes and a swivelling shutter, whereas the back sight vane is missing. A pencil or screwdriver is missing from the crossbar. Engraved floral decorations are found around the vernier. The octant is contained in a stepped deal box, painted red on the inside, and containing some illegible pencil notes.
The instrument has an inlaid ivory scale from -2° to 98° by 20 arcminutes, measuring to 90°. The octant has an ivory vernier measuring to 1 arcminute, with zero at the right.