Sailing ships generally had two kinds of compasses: steering compasses, two of which would be mounted in a binnacle in front of the helm for use in maintaining a course; and a bearing compass that was used for taking the bearings of celestial objects, landmarks and the ship's wake. The latter could be moved around the ship, and it was soon observed that the bearing could vary from one part of the ship to another. The explorer Joao de Castro was the first to report such an inconsistency, in 1538, and attributed it to the ship's gun. Many other objects were found to be sources of deviation in ships, including iron particles in brass compass bowls; iron nails in a wooden compass box or binnacle; and metal parts of clothing. The two steering compasses themselves could interfere with each other if they were set too close together.* The "bearing compass" was eventually sited in a fixed position in a binnacle with, as far as possible, an all round view and acquired the name "standard compass". It would nonetheless have a different deviation from the "steering compass", so the compass heading shown on the "steering compass" would be different from the compass heading shown on the "standard compass".
