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CABIN to To CALK, or CAULK
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CANOE to To rig the CAPSTERN
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COMPASS (continued)
The needles of the other instruments were generally composed of two pieces of steel wire, bent in the middle, and approaching each other towards the ends, where they meet. Others were made of one piece of steel of a spring temper, and broad towards the ends, but tapering towards the middle; but the needle in Dr. Knight's compass is quite strait, and square at the ends, and consequently has only two poles, although the curves are a little confused about the hole in the middle. Needles of this construction, after vibrating a long time, will always point exactly in the same direction; and if drawn ever so little on one side will return to it again, without any sensible difference.It is necessary to observe here, that the principal, and indeed the only circumstance in which Knight's compasses are superior to those which have hitherto obtained, is, that their needles being tempered much higher than usual, are thereby enabled to contain a much greater quantity of the magnetical stream, which is certainly a real advantage. But, on the other hand, experience sufficiently proves, and truth obliges us to remark, that the methods he has taken to balance the card with more accuracy than had been formerly attempted, have rendered it by far too delicate to encounter the shocks of a tempestuous sea.
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© Derived from Thomas Cadell's new corrected edition, London: 1780, page 87, 2003
Prepared by Paul Turnbull
http://southseas.nla.gov.au/refs/falc/0364.html