Mariner's compass

Title: Mariner's compass
Date Created: c. 2015
Creator: Zhanhui Fishing Tackle
Identifier: Ingenium, 2015.0063
Original Location: Shanwei, China
Current Location: Ingenium, Ottawa
Description: This mariners’ compass was collected by a Canadian physician working for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Back in August 2015, I asked Dr. Simon Bryant to document his perspective of the migrant crisis unfolding on the Mediterranean. At the time, he was stationed on the 40-metre rescue vessel, MY Phoenix. This compass was found in an inflatable migrant boat after all the passengers (108) had left.

Initially, I had hoped that Dr. Bryant would collect objects that spoke directly to the medical experience of migrants. He did collect various items that reflected this harrowing experience, but he did something even more important - he collected objects that related to the overall experience of the migrants.

Since collecting it, the object has moved in an out of multiple contexts. Some of the objects from that initial collection have been displayed down the road at Pier 21, Canada’s Museum of Immigration. They have also been on display at Canada’s Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg.

The compass eventually returned to China was part of Srajana Kaikini’s exploration of objects, relations and curatorial practice at the 2016/17 Shanghai Biennale. Back in China, the compass had returned to its context of manufacturing, as well as region of the world reputed as the inventors of the magnetic compass.

When the object arrived at our museum in Ottawa, I was surprised that is was plastic. From the images I assumed that it was a brass and glass instrument found on many ships, and in many museum collections around the world. There is something telling about this plastic version of an iconic navigation instrument being used for such a desperate and dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean.
Credit: Mariner's Compass, c. 2015
Maker: Zhanhui Fishing Tackle. Shanwei, China
Ingenium, 2015.0063.
Link: https://collection.ingeniumcanada.org/en/id/2015.0063.001/
Contributor: Dr. David Pantalony, Curator, Science and Medicine, Ingenium - Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation