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Signal” by Captain Hank Bracker
The Magnetic Compass
Although there are many different compasses including the gyro compass with its repeaters, the primary compass used in the navigation of small craft is the magnetic compass. Illustrated is one somewhat larger than the average, but smaller that the magnetic compass housed in a binnacle aboard ocean going vessels. Used in traditional navigation it shows the direction relative to the geographic or cardinal points. On its face is found a diagram called a compass rose, which shows at least the primary directions of north, south, east, and west.
North corresponds to zero degrees, and the angles then increase clockwise, so that east is 90 degrees, south is 180 degrees, and west is 270 degrees. Some nautical compasses are set up to allow the navigator to use the compass to take azimuths or bearings, of physical objects such as lighthouses or other aids to navigation, When transferred to a nautical charts these bearings help to establish the vessels position and allows for “Dead Reckoning Navigation.
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