What is the difference between a barnacle and a binnacle? Anyone? Anyone? Well, yes, both are related to the sea, but the difference ends there. A barnacle is a small marine animal that likes to ...

A ship’s steel hull becomes part of Earth’s magnetic field, which can quietly skew a magnetic compass in different directions as the vessel turns and heels. This explains how binnacle correctors work, ...

Although manufactured in Vannes, France in 1764 , this compass was the property of a Captain Forrest of Stirling. Although Stirling is well inland in Scotland it was once a thriving port because of ...

Archaeology researcher Priit Lätti of the Estonian Maritime Museum took to the "Terevision" studio a number of artifacts discovered on the wrecked Lootsi cog, among which is Europe's oldest still ...

Magnetic compasses can be fooled by steel hulls and shifting magnetic poles, so ships turn to gyroscopes instead. This video ...

Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www ...

Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www ...

II. AN important objection was made to me some years ago by Capt. Evans against the use of quadrantal correctors in the Navy, that they would prevent the taking of bearings by the prismatic azimuth ...