"binnacle" pre-1750

[Stephen Goranson]

OED binnacle, n., Etymology seems good, except for the statement that "The current _binnacle_ [spelling] appears after 1750..."

Among the published uses of binnacle earlier than 1750, e.g.:

A voyage to Cacklogallinia: with a description ... . Brunt, Samuel, pseud.  (London, 1727) p. 25:

...for a Sea which pooped us the second Day, had carried away the Binnacle with the Two Compasses; and they either had not, or knew nor, whereto find another.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015078548610;view=image;seq=33;q1=binnacle;start=1;size=10;page=search;num=25

Stephen Goranson
www.duke.edu/~goranson

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