Antique and vintage nautical binnacles and compass... please help with details

[72gunner]

Hello all, my first post here! I'm a retired Navy Gunner who has an appreciation for old unique nautical pieces. I've acquired some pieces that I'm having a hard time identifying with age and manuf or any other details really. These were all purchased from a brass polishing shop who sells odds and ends. He had no info for me other than they were old, heavy...Any history or info on these items is greatly appreciated. Here's what I know:

Wood ships binnacle... teak or mahogany late 1800s to early 1900s? Has a Lionel inclinometer.

Large binnacle hood... no info... no markings anywhere.

1 Kelvin white compass, other than Boston and Kelvin white and serial on gimbal.

1 nautik bergen norway compass... no other markings. Glass has some etched dates... earliest 1966.

1 large brass porthole marked armoured glass and XX. Weighs about 75lbs, 22inch diameter to flange.

3 ships navigation lights. Marked solarlyte, Chicago. Corning marked lens, blue/green, red, clear.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[Retired Sarge]

For your Kevin White one, this auction states it's probably from the 40's.

https://www.catawiki.com/l/9465835-kelvin-white-brass-ship-compass-boston-ma

As one Vet to another, welcome to the TNet and the madness and thank you for your service.

 

[Retired Sarge]

One would think the Nautik Bergen Norway one would be easy to find an example of, seeing it has a black dial with white ticks. But no, all I find are white dial with black ticks, or white dial with black outlined ticks.

 

[firemanphob]

Welcome from Indiana

 

[Retired Sarge]

The porthole, I'm leaning towards WWII era, plus or minus a few years. By the Vietnam era portholes were pretty a rarity, they were considered a weak point on a ship, and with the advent of air conditioning on ships they were pretty much obsolete.

Granted I'm not a Naval Equipment expert so my dating might be off a little.......

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Welcome to Tnet from Toronto gunner!
Kudos to you and the 'brass polishing shop' owner who chose to save these pieces from being sold for their scrap value.

The gimbaled ships compass and the wood ships binnacle are nice finds.
Dave

 

[72gunner]

Thanks for the welcome! And, thank you ffuries for your service.
The brass polish shop owner is an interesting fellow. He's cleaned up and polished some brass cannon barrels for me and some other odds and ends. I've been haggling price with him for weeks before he sold it all to me.

I've actually had a tough time finding much info on this stuff. I would like to be able to talk and explain the stuff I have displayed in my house.

 

[BLK HOLE]

Yo Shipmate welcome aboard T-Net from Northern Virginia

 

[A2coins]

Welcome and thanks for your service might try posting one at a time. That's some cool looking stuff. Tommy

 

[72gunner]

BLK HOLE-> Hows the weather in VA? Nice and warm here in Jacksonville Florida...been in the 80s!

The Nautik Bergen Norway compass is killing me, I cannot find another with a black background/white lettering compass face anywhere. Just found that you can date the Kelvin compasses by how the name displayed...Kelvin & Wilfrid O. White would be pre 1950s. After that the name changed to Wilfrid O. White & Sons. But, I can't find anything that actually states that. Of course the couple compass repair and parts places I've called want me to send the compass in to be looked at by their technicians to check seals, top off fluids. The simply will not provide any help, I get it though...nothings free. lol.

Are there any nautical gurus on the boards here anyone is aware of?

Tommy-> Thank you Sir and good point...maybe posting one item at a time might be better. I see you're from Michigan. I grew up in Kalamazoo, went to Western Michigan before I joined the Navy!

 

[DCMatt]

BLK HOLE-> Hows the weather in VA? Nice and warm here in Jacksonville Florida...been in the 80s!

The Nautik Bergen Norway compass is killing me, I cannot find another with a black background/white lettering compass face anywhere. Just found that you can date the Kelvin compasses by how the name displayed...Kelvin & Wilfrid O. White would be pre 1950s. After that the name changed to Wilfrid O. White & Sons. But, I can't find anything that actually states that. Of course the couple compass repair and parts places I've called want me to send the compass in to be looked at by their technicians to check seals, top off fluids. The simply will not provide any help, I get it though...nothings free. lol.

Are there any nautical gurus on the boards here anyone is aware of?

Tommy-> Thank you Sir and good point...maybe posting one item at a time might be better. I see you're from Michigan. I grew up in Kalamazoo, went to Western Michigan before I joined the Navy!

Not sure if anyone pointed this out but I notice southeast on your compass is marked SO (same for northeast - NO). I'm guessing that's for the German market meaning Süd-Ost?

Süd-Ost

 

[Retired Sarge]

Not sure if anyone pointed this out but I notice southeast on your compass is marked SO (same for northeast - NO). I'm guessing that's for the German market meaning Süd-Ost?

Süd-Ost

Or sørøst in Norwegian. So we can rule it's for European use, either Germanic or Scandinavian use.

 

[72gunner]

That makes sense. The Kelvin white compass is wartime def wartime (1940s). Making some progress!

 

[Molewacker]

Just a thought that came up -

Would a black dial w/ white tics be more useful in the far North where you have extended darkness in winter? Or I noticed smaller military compasses often have the black dial. Good for stealth/night operations?

Just wondering - good luck with ID!

 

[Retired Sarge]

I started looking again, trying find examples of the Bergen Nautik one, still with no luck. Took a break I was tied up on Jury duty yesterday and just wanted to come home, eat and crash out.

I'll figure out another search parameter and see if I get any hits. It's trial and error trying to figure out the right combo of words to find exactly what you're searching for. Sort of like code breaking...........

 

[72gunner]

I had some time today to mess with the compasses a bit...I cleaned the outside bezel of the Norwegian compass. It reads:
BERGEN NAUTIK---- A/S--- BERGEN NORWAY and what I believe is the serial number, 17128. After some measuring and comparing, I believe the Nautik compass and funky binnacle hood go together.