Such devices were in use until the eighth century. In the Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo described the floating compass, suspended in water, a technique which minimized the effect of motion on the instrument.

Originally, the compass had been developed for divination purposes, a sort of magnetic spoon going back as early as the Han Dynasty 1,000 years before. The Song began to trade with Southeast Asia ...

it was during the Song dynasty that it reached new heights. This era gave rise to many important inventions, including gunpowder, movable printing type and the compass - it was also a time when ...