General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

3

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

plastic, synthetic

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

12.0 cm

Width

8.5 cm

Height

3.5 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Marine Transportation

Category

Navigation instruments & equipment

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Ritchie

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Massachusetts

City

Boston

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

ca: 1985 -1997

Canada

Typical of compass used in Canada and elsewhere in North America. Was bought and used by CSTMC former curator, John Corby. "I bought this compass at a Montreal boat show in the mid-80's after my anchor dragged overnight and I found myself embarrassingly close to other vessels in the anchorage and from then on made it a rule to re-check my position before going to bed."

Function

Used by mariners to ascertain the relative position of the other points of the compass to magnetic north.

Technical

Example of a modern mariner's compass. Used a special battery, non-magnetic, no longer produced. This kind of compass is surpassed now by GPS. The modus operandi is as follows: pressing the button illuminates the dial of the compass and shows a red dot. When this aligned with a fixed object, either ashore or afloat a reading of the compass is noted. Then another reading on another object is taken, the spread between the tow being ideally around 60-120 degrees. The results are plotted on the chart and the intersection of the two bearing lines indicate the boat's position.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Raised emboseed Mfr's markings on front of the casing: "RITCHIE"

Missing

No missing parts.

Finish

The sides of casing are glossy black and the front and back of casing are a matt finish.The compass dial is white with black markings. Two metal front buttons.

Decoration

A raised embossed line of a wave design is found on the front of the casing under the Mfr's markings and under the wave design is a straight raised line.