Comments | potc_universe: My compass works fine

rexluscus in potc_universe

My compass works fine

Dec 17, 2007 17:38

Is there anything remarkable about Jack's compass, physically? I mean, does anyone know enough about age-of-navigation compasses to be able to put a rough year and make on it? Can a country of manufacture be discerned? Presumably the production designers based it on a real instrument ( Read more... )

fanon

Comments 10

bombazzinedoll December 18 2007, 01:49:42 UTC

From DMC: "That compass you barter from me -- it cannot lead you to this?"

So yes, it's mentioned in the movies that Jack got it from Dalma. As to its original origins, I have no idea, but you could get pretty creative with that, I'd think.

rexluscus December 18 2007, 01:52:12 UTC

Aha! Thanks!

justawench December 18 2007, 04:53:29 UTC

I know nothing about compasses and I've never heard anyone say much about it physically or historically.

My only thoughts are these: The dial changed between CotBP & DMC. There are constellations painted in the dome. It looks like it's made of ebony inlaid with ivory, and the dial might be ivory, too.

rexluscus December 18 2007, 06:13:22 UTC

Thanks! I missed those stars until I looked at a picture of it close up. Neat! I've done a bit of browsing of sites that sell antique navigational instruments and whatnot, and nobody has a compass that looks anything like Jack's. I've only seen a couple that are octagonal like that (they were all made in Germany). I haven't seen any with a dome for the sundial like that. Maybe Jack's compass is unique!

p0wdermonkey December 18 2007, 10:30:14 UTC

viva_gloria and I saw a compass in the Whipple Museum in Cambridge that looked extremely like Jack's. It was Portuguese and from the right period as far as I remember. I can't find an image of it online but the link below shows one that's fairly similar, although less like Jack's.
http://www.aaei.org/aaei/files/ccLibraryFiles/Filename/000000000230/compass.jpg

Doesn't Tia call it "the compass you traded from me" or something like that in DMC?

rexluscus December 19 2007, 08:41:58 UTC

Ooooh cool! Was it octagonal?

Yeah, somebody set me straight on that - Tia does say words to that effect.

p0wdermonkey December 19 2007, 10:09:44 UTC

I think it was square, but very similar in general look and size. Actually it was on loan to somewhere in America so all we really saw was a photo of it, but we both immediately said, "That's Jack's compass!"

rexluscus December 20 2007, 00:30:49 UTC

Neat! Maybe I'll try to track it down. Don't know why I've become obsessed with the compass. Our minds seize hold of certain things, I guess...

Thread 6