An 18th century two-sheet sea chart of the English Channel based on Halley

MOUNT & PAGE.

A New and Correct Chart of the Channel between England and France with considerable improvements not extant in any Draughts hitherto Publish'd shewing the sands, shoals, depths of Water and Anchorage, with ye flowing of ye Tydes, and setting of the Current; as observed by the Learned D.r Halley.
London: Mount & Page, c.1745. Coloured. Two sheets conjoined, total 635 x 1000mm.

Repairs to folds.

A large and detailed sea chart of the British Isles south of Dublin, Harlech and Cromer in Norfolk, with the coast of Europe from Ostend in Belgium to Brest. Insets show Plymouth Sound and the Isle of Wight.
In 1701 Edmund Halley made his third and final voyage on his ship, the 'Paramour', this time to study the tides of the English Channel, hoping to identify a general rule for their complexity. In November that year he presented his findings to the Royal Society and in 1702 a three sheet version of this chart was first published by Mount & Page, incorporating Halley's measurements of the tides and currents, indicated by Roman numerals for the time of high tide and arrows for direction of current. This two-sheet version was published in one of Mount & Page's 'Coastal Pilots', published throughout the 18th century.


Stock ID : 23424