I restored several HAND (brandname) ship compass's several years ago and a
instrument repair co. in jenson bch. FL. told me that mineral sprits or jet
fuel (kero) will work fine but you must-MUST-evacuate all the dissolved
gases in the fluid.
I did this with a sergeant Welch vac pump but any two stage vac pump will
work fine, just as long as it gets down to 28" of mercury or so.
all the ones I did are still fine today.
bill k (one of the many lurkers)