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Whatever happened to the Compass platform on the Titanic? Was it ever found in the wreck site?

I’ve found out what it was used for but no explanation to whether They found any sign of it in the debris field just curious because it was a unique structure that I’ve always been fascinated by.

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    What have you found out yourself? Did you check for example Wikipedia? Searched on the Internet?
    – Jos
    Jul 12, 2018 at 8:36
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    I don't think I understand the question; @Jos is right that documenting your research would really help us to help you.
    – MCW
    Jul 12, 2018 at 9:26

2 Answers 2

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No, no sign of the Titanic's compass platform has ever been found.

The location of the Compass Platform is shown on this plan of the Titanic's Boat Deck, and this plan of the ship's profile. You can see it was located directly above the First Class Lounge.

The Compass Platform contained the ship's "standard compass", against which all others would be judged during a voyage to maintain accuracy.


The Compass Platform was a structure built from wood, bronze and canvas (no ferrous parts which might affect the compass). It all probability, it was washed off the roof of the 1st class lounge as the bow section plunged beneath the surface, or became detached when one of the funnels came adrift. There is certainly no sign of it in the photographs taken of the ship by Dr Robert Ballard or those who have surveyed the vessel since.

Of course, the wood and canvas would not have survived on the sea bed, and while it is quite possible that the bronze elements do survive, I can find no record of them being recorded and identified in the debris field.

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  • quite likely the brass parts would be quite small in the sea of debris.
    – jwenting
    Jan 30, 2019 at 5:19
  • @jwenting Indeed. And the debris fields cover an area of about 2 square miles on the ocean floor! Jan 30, 2019 at 5:51
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My theory is that it got crushed by the water presser as the ship sank towards the bottom of the Atlantic. Another I have is when the funnels fell the 3rd one may have fallen on-top of the compass tower and it got crushed.

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  • its just my opinion not yours OK.
    – brennan
    Sep 27, 2018 at 17:30
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    Welcome to H:SE - didn't mean to come off as a buzzkill, but this is one of the important distinctions between a discussion site (where opinions are completely appropriate), and H:SE (where we're looking for researched/sourced/cited answers). I looked back and my comment and decided that it was less courteous and welcoming than I wanted and deleted it. When you have a moment, read help center, and browse the site; that's probably a better introduction to our culture than my prior comment was. Again, apologies for rudeness and welcome.
    – MCW
    Sep 27, 2018 at 17:34
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    sorry. next time ill do more reaserch thanks for your advice
    – brennan
    Sep 27, 2018 at 17:36

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