The octant has an ebony frame and limb with a brass index arm and fittings. It also has inlaid plates on the crossbar and on the back of the frame, which are now both missing. The tangent screw is positioned on top of the index arm and the clamping screw is on the back. The octant has three socket shades, two red, and one green, and two horizon shades, one red and one green. Index-glass adjustment is made by a screw and on the horizon glass, which is missing its glass, by a lever, wing nut and a milled clamping screw. The octant also has a threaded, non-adjustable telescope bracket. The telescope for this instrument is missing, along with the pencil or screwdriver from the crossbar. The octant has no box.

The instrument has an inlaid ivory scale from -2° to 98° by 20 arcminutes, measuring to 91°. The octant has an ivory vernier measuring to 1 arcminute, with zero at the right.