A Hand Bearing Compass may seem like a relic from a by-gone era . Actually it can serve several useful purposes as Bob Austin has previously stated. Since you can hold it any place on the vessel you can usually find a spot that is not affected by other magnetic fields (the exception being a steel vessel). This will allow you to get a quick check on your compass (in addition to your GPS). In adjusting compasses we always tried to check a compass three ways when we were done. Running a bearing or range, check by gyro, and by a hand bearing compass.
If you are in an area of vessel traffic you are legally required to check the bearing of any other vessel that is heading toward you or in a crossing situation by a hand bearing compass. If there is a shoal or reef you can quickly plot a danger angle which can be measured by a Hand Bearing Compass. See your copy of Chapman’s Piloting for details. Yes I know your Chart Plotter will tell you all that. But do you know that Solar Flares are becoming much more active? One of the things that Solar Flares do is to disrupt electronic signals of all kinds. The chances are that this round of Solar Flares will not take out your GPS. But like earthquakes you never know when the big one will occur. So it is possible that at some future time we will lose our entire GPS systems either temporarily or for a long time. It took over ten years to put up all 24 satellites for our current system. Maybe we could put them back in five years if we had to do it again. But wouldn’t it be handy if we knew how to get along without GPS as least on a temporary basis.
As Bob Austin says, it is so easy to take a few bearings when you anchor. Then you can check them even in the night if you put a spot light on your bearing points. It sure makes for sounder sleep. Another use of the hand bearing compass was for bow and beam bearings and doubling the angle on the bow to determine distance off from points of land. See Chapmans again for details on doing this. Your co pilot may want to have a paper chart and keep a dead reckoning. It makes long trips go a lot faster and kids eat this stuff up. At least mine did.
I am amazed and a little bit proud of the days when all we had for navigation was a paper chart, compass, parallel rules, and a kitchen timer. We cruised the whole Maine coast in thick fog during more than one summer with this simple gear. Yes, I’ll admit that I was among the first to acquire Consolan, Loran, and GPS when they became available. But I still brush up on my elementary navigation from time to time.
So what are the best hand bearing compasses? I had one of the Morin 2000 that Bob Austin mentioned. I used it in compass work for over 25 years. I believe it was made by a French company, but now it is sold by Weems and Plath for $119. It is accurate down to 1 degree and has internal night lighting with no battery necessary. When my Morin Compass lost part of its fluid, I did not want to fool with it for repair -- by this time I had given up repairs and sold all my repair equipment. Anyway I bought a Plastimo Iris 50. Very similar to the Morin. Price was about $100. It, too is accurate to 1° and has night lighting. I gave it to my son who took over the compass business and he has high praise for the Plastimo. The Morin and Plastimo are referred to as “Hockey Puck” compasses as they are similarly shaped and protected by a rubber casing.
I had other hand bearing compasses including the inexpensive Davis model and a Ritchie model. But these could not hold a candle to the Morin and Plastimo. These two come with a cord to hang them around your neck so it is always handy to take a bearing. You can check the web sites of these companies for details.
One other point. The Ritchie “Angler” and “Explorer” compasses can be removed from their bases by pressing the buttons on each side of the compass. They can be used as Hand Bearing Compasses. However, they only have markings every 5° so have limited accuracy. However they could be used when great accuracy is not required.
Bob W
