The octant has a mahogany frame, limb and index arm, with the lower part of the arm covered by brass plate and strengthened at the bottom. It also has brass fittings, a brass stop for the index arm, and inlaid ivory plates in the crossbar and on the back of the frame, which is missing. There is no tangent screw, and the clamping screw is located on the back of the index arm. The octant has three socket shades in red, orange, and green. 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 from the crossbar. The octant has no box.

The instrument has an inlaid ivory scale from -2° to 99° by 20 arcminutes, measuring to 91°. The octant has in ivory vernier measuring to 1 arcminute, with zero at the right.