Ship's position on heraldic devices (8)
I believe the answer is:
bearings
This could be a double definition.
'ship's position' is the first definition.
'bearings' can be an answer for 'position' (thesaurus). I'm not sure about the 'ship's' bit.
'heraldic devices' is the second definition.
'bearings' can be an answer for 'devices' (bearing is a kind of device). I'm unsure of the 'heraldic' bit.
'on' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bearings that I've seen before include "(Sense of) one's position or direction" , "Compass directions or small balls in wheel hubs" , "Moving parts; directions" , "locations" , "Ivan -, Russian author" .)