Compass in binnacle

George Stebbing, 1819

The ship’s compass was used to determine the course of a vessel and was thus the most important instrument on board. At night it could be safely kept in this binnacle (in Dutch nachthuis or ‘night house’). A small built-in lamp made it possible to read the compass in the dark.

  • Artwork typecompass
  • Object numberNG-MC-878
  • Dimensionsbinnacle: height 83.5 cm x width 44.5 cm x depth 41.8 cm, compass card box: height 4.5 cm x width 25.6 cm x depth 25.6 cm, compass card: diameter 23.2 cm
  • Physical characteristicswood, brass, copper, iron, lead, glass, ruby, mica and paper

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George Stebbing

Compass in Binnacle with Compass Card in Box

Portsmouth, 1819

Inscriptions

  • inscription, on the compass card, verso:KING’s / 2109 / PATENT MAKER G. Stebbing, / + PORTSMOUTH + / By His Majesty’s Royal Letters Patent
  • inscription, on the compass card, recto:Heavy Card for / Compass Nº 2109.- / Portsmouth 2 August 1819 / Geo Stebbing / Patentee

Provenance

…; Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1819;1HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 19/10/1819 N22. transferred to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-878

Entry

Compass in binnacle with a pyramid-shaped top and a compass card in a separate box.

The binnacle has a door in the front. All the faces of the top are made of glass. Two of them can be sealed off with a copper plate, while on the third a similar plate with a lamp holder is placed. The lamp is missing. The copper compass bowl hangs in gimbals and has a lead weight beneath. The pivot has a head made of ruby. The compass card has a brass cap with the dab for the pivot. The turning of the card is facilitated by the materials used, while the large area of friction of the ruby simultaneously reduces the tilting movements.

Obreen incorrectly dates this compass to 1825.2J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 878. The binnacle and compass card were sent to the Navy Model Room by the Navy dockyard in Rotterdam in 1819, as part of a collection of objects from the United Kingdom.3HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 19/10/1819 N22.

Literature

British Patent 18/7/1810, no. 3363; E.B. van den Bosch, ‘Verschillende zeevaartkundige berigten’, Verhandelingen en berigten betrekkelijk het zeewezen (1823), pp. 727-40; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 878; E.G.R. Taylor, The Mathematical Practitioners of Hanoverian England 1714-1840, Cambridge 1966, p. 406, no. 1435; A.A. Lemmers, Techniek op schaal. Modellen en het technologiebeleid van de Marine 1725-1885, Amsterdam 1996, p. 179

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'George Stebbing, Compass in Binnacle with Compass Card in Box, Portsmouth, 1819', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200315940

(accessed 9 December 2025 01:37:54).

Footnotes

  • 1HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 19/10/1819 N22.
  • 2J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 878.
  • 3HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 19/10/1819 N22.