Liquid compass

liquid compass with lantern

INSTRUMENTS - COMPASSES - LIQUID
wood; metal; glass; textile
overall: 13 1/4 x 9 1/2 x 14 in.

Boxed liquid mariner's compass. Oil lamp wrapped in strips of canvas with some cut away to allow light to shine on the compass face. Compass and lamp lashed together and to a base. In 1930 Irving Johnson served as First Mate on board J Class sloop SHAMROCK V and described this makeshift compass: “This compass was used in 1930 aboard Sr. Thomas Lipton’s SHAMROCK V on her voyage home after losing the America’s Cup race to ENTERPRISE. We encountered the center of a hurricane which washed the complete binnacle and regular compass overboard.”

1975.210