This is a Vintage Brass Cassens & Plath Lifeboat Compass. This compass is so small because it was designed to be taken on lifeboats in case of an emergency. When preparing to abandon the boat, the large binnacle with compass can’t be deconstructed. Instead, the crew will grab a portable compass to help the lifeboat find it’s way to safety. This is a salvaged nautical antique that you can tell a story about to your visitors.

Cassens & Plath is a German company has been producing nautical navigation equipment for sailors all over the world for more than 100 years. It has a German made Cassens & Plath compass inside that is in working condition. The compass itself gimbals freely inside the housing. The markings on the compass read “Cassens & Plath” and “6145”.

You will also find several stickers on the bottom part of the compass. One reads: Filled With Cassens & Plath Compass Fluid 39012. Another reads: Cassens & Plath Type51 DHI 047/14 MB/83, No.6145 and then the address to the company with phone number as well.

On the side of the dome you will see a hole that looks through to the compass.