Marine Compass

Timeline

1. c. 1180–1300Amalfi and Mediterranean ports · MediterraneanItalian maritime republics and Iberian sailors equipped merchant vessels in the Mediterranean with magnetic-needle devices, compensating for the shortcomings of astronomical navigation in cloudy weather and at night; the technique passed through the Arab world and, used together with the astrolabe and sea charts, served coastal and offshore voyaging.
2. c. 1300–1450Venice and Genoa · VeniceA dry compass box mounted on a pivot replaced the floating needle; the 32-point compass rose and wind-direction names were standardized. Navigational manuals recorded magnetic declination, and the compass, chart, and sounding lead together formed the late medieval ocean-navigation toolkit.
3. c. 1450–1480Atlantic ports of Portugal and Castile · PortugalSince the era of Prince Henry the Navigator, Portuguese sails had run south along the west coast of Africa; around the 1470s every ocean-going vessel carried a compass and a log recording headings. Castilian and Basque merchants crossed the Bay of Biscay, and the compass made off-coast voyaging possible, directly serving the Atlantic explorations about to unfold.