But when the weather
was not favourable for observations they had to rely on
the compass alone. Now the compass in actual fact does
not always and everywhere point due north. It is subject
to variation, and in different times and places points
either considerably east of north or west of it. In the
path where Cabot sailed, the compass pointed west of
north; and hence, though he thought he was sailing straight
west from Ireland, he was really pursuing a curved path
bent round a little towards the south. This fact will
become of importance when we consider where it was that
Cabot landed. For finding distance east and west the
navigators of the fifteenth century had no such appliances
as our modern chronometer and instruments of observation.
They could tell how far they had sailed only by 'dead
reckoning'; this means that if their ship was going at
such and such a speed, it was supposed to have made such
and such a distance in a given time. But when ships were
being driven to and fro, and buffeted by adverse winds,
this reckoning became extremely uncertain.
John Cabot and his men mere tossed about considerably in
their little ship.
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