NavList:

...just a moment ago I came across something, the title of which is Magnetic Variations - IV William Barlow. Haven't had time to read it fully, but it might be of interest in this "Compass History" thread.
"Barlow’s principal interest was directed towards the mariner’s compass which he saw as in need of serious improvement, he refers to the errors that dayly are committed to the making and framing of it."
https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2023/12/06/magnetic-variations-iv-william-barlow/

This is part of an ongoing series about 16th century English compass science. The author is an English historian of science living in Nürnberg (which was probably the world center of astronomy and scientific instruments in the early 16th century). He is extremely knowledgeable in Renaissance science - that's why the website is called 'Renaissance Mathematicus' - and therefore doesn't suffer fools - like Dava Sobel and Neil deGrasse Tyson - gladly. The Contributions also cover a lot of English navigational literature in the 16th and early 17th century which is quite nice if you don't have access to David Waters' "The Art of Navigation..." where all this is treated in depth. But he has also written a lot about early science in Greece and developments in the Middle Ages debunking the notion that this was a dark era full of superstition etc.

Have fun
Wolfgang