The balancing righting moments and dampening of the compass card and directive magnets in a liquid damped magnetic compass are separated to reduce the tilt and oscillation of the compass card when subjected to lateral acceleration, such as pitching and rolling in a seaway. The compass card is connected to the pivoted directive magnetic assembly by a card gimbal arrangement. The compass card is connected to the outer side of the gimbal ring rotating on a first axis. The magnetic assembly is connected to the inner side of the gimbal ring for rotation along a second axis oriented 90 degrees from the first axis.