Mariner's compass

“ The mariner’s compass made it possible for men to strike boldly across unknown seas instead of clinging to familiar shores; the printing press spread books abroad and conveyed the knowledge of the few to the masses. ”

“ Through the invention of the mariner's compass, the globe has been circumnavigated and explored; and all who inhabit it, with but few exceptions, are brought within the sphere of an all-pervading commerce, which is daily diffusing over its surface the light and blessings of civilization. ”

“ The inventor of the Mariner's Compass is not known, nor the exact time of its introduction; it was employed in Europe in navigation about the middle of the thirteenth century, and has been in use more than five hundred years. The Chinese are said to have been acquainted with it much earlier, but no reliance can be placed on their dates. The power of the loadstone to attract iron was known to the ancient Egyptians, but it was not applied to any practical purpose. ”

“ The mariner’s compass, you can see, must be of great use to the mariner. When he is far out at sea, where no land can be seen, he always knows by this which way north is, and so he judges how to direct his vessel in order to reach the desired port. ”

“ The people of Europe, rising a few centuries since out of a state of semi-barbarism, have been in the habit of claiming the invention of many things which they simply borrowed from the older nations. This was the case with the mariner's compass. ”

“ A case in point, and it is no uncommon one, attaches to the invention of the mariner’s compass, where that instrument and its original employment in navigation are credited with equal assurance to China, Iceland, France, England and Italy, by equally eminent historians and scientists. ”

“ Meantime the mariner’s compass opened up new territories beyond the seas, and in due course men of lowly origin were seen to attain to wealth and power through commercial pursuits, thus tending to break in upon the established social order. ”

“ The mariner’s compass had now been invented and men were no longer left to the mercy of a fine night and the stars to determine the direction in which they were sailing, and the Normans, Catalonians and Genoese and Portuguese had already pushed out into the Atlantic as far as the Canary Isles, Madeira and the Azores. ”

“ On the other hand, it has been contended that a knowledge of the mariner’s compass was communicated by them directly or indirectly to the early Arabs, and through the latter was introduced into Europe. Sismondi has remarked (Literature of Europe, vol. i.) that it is peculiarly characteristic of all the pretended discoveries of the middle ages that when the historians mention them for the first time they treat them as things in general use. ”

“ Wise and discerning men selected the more valuable portions of their observations; ideas were enlarged, and a desire for more perfect information excited a thirst for discovery. While this spirit was gaining strength in Europe, the wonderful powers of the magnet were revealed to the Western World. [27] The invention of the mariner's compass aided and extended navigation more than all the experience and adventure of preceding ages: the light of the stars, the guidance of the sea-coast, were no longer necessary ”

“ Some vessels are more liable to become sub-permanently magnetized than others, and as no corrector has been found for this source of deviation the navigator must determine its amount by observation. Hence, however carefully a compass may be placed and subsequently compensated, the mariner has no safety without constantly observing the bearings of the sun, stars or distant terrestrial objects, to ascertain its deviation. ”

“ Sailors have always sailed at night by the North star; but before the use of the compass was understood they could little more than guess their way when the night was dark and the stars could not be seen. With a mariner's needle on board they can tell the direction they are going no matter how dark the night. We can easily understand that sailors prized very highly the discovery of the compass. ”

“ The "Carnegie." amounts running up to one degree and a half, i. e., the compass was found to point farther to the west of north than indicated by the charts. On the portion of the trip from St. John's to Falmouth, an error in the reverse direction was revealed, showing that the compass did not, in general, point as far west as given by the mariner's charts—the errors almost reached a degree. ”

“ Though they are said to have been acquainted with the use of the compass, from the earliest ages, yet they cannot be considered as expert seamen, either in their application of astronomy to nautical purposes, or skill in manoeuvring their clumsy ships. ”

“ The use of the compass at sea is so simple, that, after what has been said, it scarcely requires explanation. When a ship sets sail for any port, she knows, first of all, the position of the port from which she sets sail, as well as that to which she is bound. A straight line drawn from the one to the other is her true course, supposing that there is deep, unobstructed water all the way; and if the compass be placed upon that line, the point of the compass through which it passes is the point by which she ought to steer. ”

“ The general direction of these disturbances in the northern hemisphere is an attraction of the north-seeking end of the needle; in the southern hemisphere, its repulsion. The approaches to Cossack, North Australia; Cape St Francis, Labrador; the coasts of Madagascar and Iceland, are remarkable for such disturbance of the compass.
The compass as we know it is the result of the necessities of navigation, which have increased from century to century. It consists of five principal parts—the card, the needles, the bowl, a jewelled cap and the pivot. ”

“ The first mate testified that the captain spoke to him about the defect, and said the compass was 'a little out; it was not like the compass he had on the Smith;' that the captain laid the stranding solely to the compass; and, further, that the compasses all vary up there; those that have not been adjusted, they vary more at certain points than others; a compass that is adjusted should not vary at all;' that he did know how much the variation of the compass was ”

“ Ay, sir. He's a first-class compass. There's nothen to make him go wrong. Yet it's astonishing what a little thing will put a compass out. I've heered of a vessel that was pretty nigh run ashore all along of the helmsman—not because he couldn't steer; a better hand never stood at a wheel; but because he'd been physicking of himself with iron and steel, and had taken so much of the blooming stuff that the compass was wrong all the time he was at the helm. ”

“ Having explained the nature of the compass, as far as explanation is possible, we present our reader with a picture of one.
It will be seen that there are four large points—N, S, E, and W—the cardinal points above referred to, and that these are subdivided by twelve smaller points, with one little black triangular point between each, and a multitude of smaller points round the outer circle. To give these points their correct names is called “boxing the compass,”—a lesson which all seamen can trip off their tongues like A, B, C, and which most boys could learn in a few hours. ”

“ A misplaced lubber's point is sure to cause grave errors in the course actually made. The compass should be as far removed as possible from ironwork of any kind. A spirit compass, as I have remarked elsewhere, is the only kind suitable for small craft. Those with cards of hard 193enamel, floating in undiluted alcohol, which renders freezing impossible, are the best. The amateur boat sailer should become familiar with the compass, be able to box it by both points and degrees, and to name its back bearings. ”

“ Now this versoriam they construe to be the compass, which notwithstanding according unto Pineda, who hath discussed the point, Turnebus, Cabeus, and divers others, is better interpreted the rope that helps to turn the Ship, or as we say, doth make it tack about; the Compass declaring rather the Ship is turned, then conferring unto its conversion. As for the long expeditions and sundry voyages of elder times, which might confirm the Antiquity of this invention, it is not improbable they were performed by the help of Stars ”

“ Knight brought his improved compass under the notice of the admiralty, and there is an entry in the official minute book under date 4 April 1751 to the effect that the navy board and the Trinity House authorities had been consulted and various experiments made with the improved compass and bar magnets. Compasses were ordered to be supplied to the Glory, bound for Guinea, the Rainbow going to Newfoundland, the Swan sloop bound to Barbadoes, and to the Vulture and Fortune sloops in the Channel. ”

“ Along the north and south-line is fixed a steel needle, which being touched by the load-stone acquires a certain virtue that makes it hang nearly in the plane of the meridian, and consequently determine the direction of the other points toward the horizon.
The compass being of the utmost importance to the purposes of navigation, it is reasonable to expect that the greatest attention should be used in its construction, and every attempt to improve it carefully examined, and adopted, if proper. ”

“ Another said there was a vast fortune waiting for the genius who should invent a compass that would not be affected by the local influences of an iron ship. He said there was only one creature more fickle than a wooden ship’s compass, and that was the compass of an iron ship. ”

“ The disturbance of the compass by the magnetism of the hull is generally modified, sometimes favourably, more often unfavourably, by the magnetized fittings of the ship, such as masts, conning towers, deck houses, engines and boilers. Thus in every ship the compass needle is more or less subject to deviation differing in amount and direction for every azimuth of the ship’s head. ”

“ He also showed that the Chinese mode of suspending the needle conduces most to sensibility. In 1820 Peter Barlow reported to the Admiralty that half the compasses in the British Navy were mere lumber and ought to be destroyed. He introduced a pattern having four or five parallel straight strips of magnetized steel fixed under a card, a form which remained the standard admiralty type until the introduction of the modern Thomson (Kelvin) compass in 1876. (F. H. B.; S. P. T.)
↑ Adamas in India reperitur ... ”

“ For, first, their compasses are exactly like ours, and they buy them of Europeans as much as they can, scarce daring to meddle with their needles themselves. Secondly, it is certain that the old navigators only coasted it along, which I impute to their want of this instrument to guide and instruct them in the middle of the ocean...I have nothing but argument to offer touching this matter, having never met with any person in Persia or the Indies to inform me when the compass was first known among them, though I made inquiry of the most learned men in both countries. ”

“ If the compass on the new iron vessel was not sufficiently protected to traverse correctly, the vessel was as little sea worthy as if she had no compass, and this should have been carefully ascertained before she started on her voyage. If there was no fault in the compass, then it is very evident that the officer, who is 30 or 40 miles wrong in his calculation, and driving through a thick fog with a full head of steam, and first discovers his true position by running on an island, a cape, or a continent, has neither the skill nor the prudence to be intrusted with such a command ”

“ The direction assumed by the needle is not generally towards the geographical north, but diverges towards the east or west of it, making a horizontal angle with the true meridian, called the magnetic variation or declination; amongst mariners this angle is known as the variation of the compass. In the usual navigable waters of the world the variation alters from 30° to the east to 45° to the west of the geographical meridian, being westerly in the Atlantic and Indian oceans, easterly in the Pacific. ”

“ Every compass and corrector supplied to the ships of the British navy is previously examined in detail at the Compass Observatory established by the admiralty at Deptford. A trained observer acting under the superintendent of compasses is charged with this important work. The superintendent, who is a naval officer, has to investigate the magnetic character of the ships, to point out the most suitable positions for the compasses when a ship is designed, and subsequently to keep himself informed of their behaviour from the time of the ship’s first trial. ”

“ It was as dark as the inside of a coal-sack, so that there was nothing to steer by but the compass and the "feel" of the wheel, which every sailor knows is not conducive to keeping a straight course, as the compass, however lively, never moves at the same moment the ship's head does, and consequently you can't meet her with the helm as quickly as when the stars or clouds are visible and indicate her slightest movement. Besides, the "old man" was on deck, and, before I had time to get into her present peculiarities, he was at me with, "Now, then! ”

“ The ordinary boat's compass will answer admirably if only short sails are contemplated, but on a long cruise where a heavy sea is not unlikely to be encountered, a fluid compass should be carried. The motion of a small craft in rough 117water causes the common compass card to jump about so much as to be perfectly useless to steer by, while a fluid compass remains steady and reliable under all circumstances and conditions. ”

“ There is no direct evidence, but it seems incontestable, that it was from these eastern mariners that the Arabs received the compass, and gradually brought it into use in their home waters, where it became well known to the crusaders and other sea-going travelers of the middle ages. Little reliance could be placed upon it, however, until the sixteenth century, when the need for something trustworthy for long voyages made men turn their attention to the study and betterment of it. ”