A binnacle is more than just a housing for the compass. It is also contains the compensating magnets and quadrantal spheres used to adjust deviation out of the card. There is really quite a bit of "stuff" inside--mostly magnets.
The word "binnacle" evolved from "bittacle," which goes back through the French to "habitaculum" in Latin, meaning a place of habitation. I guess it means the place where the compass lives. Originally, the bittacle housed a lamp and only later the compass.
Many of the binnacles of Titanic's era also had a small instrument below the compass. This was a clinometer, used to measure the heel or list of the deck.
-- David G. Brown
The word "binnacle" evolved from "bittacle," which goes back through the French to "habitaculum" in Latin, meaning a place of habitation. I guess it means the place where the compass lives. Originally, the bittacle housed a lamp and only later the compass.
Many of the binnacles of Titanic's era also had a small instrument below the compass. This was a clinometer, used to measure the heel or list of the deck.
-- David G. Brown