Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-03
THE SAILORS TRUsTY GUIDE.


AN INTERESTING LITTLE Room m THE navy DE-
PARTxENT-THR FIRST USE OF THE COMPASS
ON WOODEN vkssELs-rRoN VESSELS AND THEIR
KFFEcr on THE COMPASS
A thousand miles from land, with the sun and
stars blotted from the heavens by never-open-
ing clouds, the horizon without fixed point;
wild, restless, mountainous waves on every
hand. Such a situation ia enough to strike
terror to the heart, to make the bravest quail,
to crush courage, but for one thing, the only
means whereby the commerce of the world Is
possible, in fact the main element in the stage
OF to-day's civilization-thec compass. Without
1t mariners would be tied to shores, nations
separated by water would never communicate,
America would not have been discovered, the
world would have remained in comparative
darkness. When one considers the enormous
value, not only toindividuals but to the world
itself. OF free ocean traffic, the importance OF
so helpful means as the compass, withou.
which such traffic would be impossible, is apt
to grow into the proportions Of one Of the
greatest discoveries, fit to stand with the in
vention OF printing and the application OF
steam.
DISCOVERY OF THE COMPASS.
When Solomon remarked that there was
had just been informed by the head of his
patent Office that his latest little device was
not new discovery, since it had been in ex-
istence in China for a couple of centuries, for
it would verify seem as though every discovery
of importance made in the more modern world
has already been made in that eternal land
where history fades into fiction so far removed
that dates are perilous things to handle. 1t
was in China, appropriately enough, that the
compass was discovered. What we historically
know as 1.-THE ancients," meaning those be-
nighted folks who lived few centuries before
Christ, were unaware of the existence of such
power in bar of iron that would enable
them to venture in their water crafts
out of sight OF land. and SO they
crept from shore to shore, hugging the coasts,
limiting their spheres, narrowing their worlds,
cramping their minds. But there is good au-
thority to show that the compass was known In
China, and, indeed generally throughout the
eastern coast of the great continent at very
remote period. Chinese annals-queer old
sheets-assign its discovery to the year 1884
BIC, four thousand five hundred years ago,
when they say an instrument for indicating the
position Of the sun was constructed by his inn
perial highness the Lord of the Land Forever,
Hou-ang-ti. 1t would seem at first the Celestals
used this instrument exclusively for travelling
by land, and, in fact, its discovery availed
the world but little from a commercial
point of view for about three thousand years.
The earliest date at which it is heard of being
used at sea is about 800 AID. One ancient ac-
count tells us that when Marco Polo, a cele-
brated traveller, returned from Cathay he
brought with him a knowledge of the compass
and its uses, among other curiosities picked up
in that far-off wonderful land. From that
time OH the compass has been used to show the
way on the water when all marks and fixed
points we're obscured.
THE SIMPLEST FORM OF COMPASS.
magnetized needle laid on a floating cork
is the simplest form of compass known. There
must be magnet, perfect freedom of motion
around an axis, and that is all. This will, I'M
der ordinary circumstances. give one a true
knowledge of where the north is and with this
starter quick eye can find the east. But
to help the eye, to make observations accurate
and to give more than four fixed points, a card
bearing on 1t a graduated circle must be added,
SO that by reference to the needle, which must
point north, any other relative direction is
obtained.
IN THE DAYS OF WOODEN VESSELS,
propelled by the wind blowing on sails, COM
passes were easy to handle and easy to read. If
they we're well hung and the card was we'll
marked the mariner stood in no danger Of
going astray on the ocean, provided he knew
where he wanted to go. But let him lay bar
of iron on the deck alongside of his compass
and he would soon be travelling in totally
different course from that he wanted to take
smashing of his il-favored ship on an unknown
reef showed him his error.
AN EPIDEMIC OF WRECKS AND THE CAUSE,
In the year 1874 the project of laying rail-
roads beyond Chicago engrossed the country,
and many eyes watched the progress of the
work with interest. Buffalo was the distribut-
ing point for bulk of the materials used in
the construction of these arteries of civiliza-
ton, it being the eastern port Of the lakes.
Between Buffalo and Chicago there were no
means to transport the goods except by water
80 enormous cargoe5 of iron, rails and other
metallic materials went around by water.
There was never such year for wrecks. A
dense fog prevailed during a greater part of
the shipping season, and vessels ran ashore in
surprising numbers. Captains said that their
compasses were crazy, that they would steer
on the proper course when bump came a rock
Investigation showed the cause of this cpl
demic of disaster to be the presence on board
the vessels OF the metals, which acted as infiu-
ences to make the compass deviate from its
true direction.
IN IRON SHIPS.
Further study, necessitated by the building
Of steel and iron vessels for commercial and
naval purposes. developed the fact that the
compass needle is seriously affected by the
metals in the ship, and that an ordinary instru-
ment placed ON vessel of the new type would
not only be useless but dangerous. This has
kept pace with the advancement in ship build
ing until the regulation of compasses is to-day
one of the most complicated and important
branches Of the naval service.
CORRECTING CoMPAssEs.
In little room on the second floor of the
Navy department are two men who revel in the
deepest of mathematical calculations, sur
rounded by brass instruments of peculiar de-
sign. In the center of the floor is a brass cir
Gle screwed down, around which swings a
wooden structure bearing some resemblance
to ship. These men Lieut.. VIM. H..
Scheutze and Ensign John Gibson, whose duty
it is to keep watchful eyes on the compasses
used in the United States navy-to keep them
in order much as the jeweler regulates your
clock, and to tit new ships with instruments
thatwill be sure to give them correct courses
wherever they may chance to be. Lieut.
Schuetze, an officer of massive frame, who has
seen much hard service, ID the superintendent
Of compasses, and he kindly explained the ways
and means of the business the other day to q
STAR reporter.
BINNACLEs AND GIMBALs
On one side of the room are three large
standards, known in naval parlance as ''bin-
nacles," used to hold compasses. They are
about four feet high and are bolted firmly to
the deck of a ship. If the compass were fast.
ened rigidly to the pinnacle it would be useless
so it is supported on 'gimbals," delicate
turning points, SO that every movement of the
ship is taken up, and the compass card remains
perfectly level. Lamps are fitted in at either