DESCRIPTION: Attractive French copperplate engraved sea chart of the Isle of Wight and Hampshire coast of England after a chart of 1800 by Captain William Price. This spectacular antique chart is packed with interesting observations that are now over 200 years old. On the main, upper chart numerous soundings, buoys, current indicators, and sandbanks are displayed along with seven inset coastal recognition elevation views to include the Needles, Ash Down Beacon, and Dunnose.
Towns, villages, and other noted features include: St. Aldan's Head, Poole, Christ-church, Lymington, Portsmouth, Portchester, Brackelsome Bay, Chelsea Bill, Brading, Blackgang Chin, Wacht House, Spithead, Sandown Bay, Chichester, and Cowes.
Central inset contains an oval title cartouche and a description of local buoys with the water depths at each. These named buoys include Royal George (a first-rate British ship-of-the-line lost off Portsmouth while at anchor in August 1782) , Edgar, Normansland, Bembridge Ledge, Knab Rock and the Horse and Dean Sands. Flanking the central inset are five attractive detailed elevation views with bearings triangulating buoys to on-shore features, usually prominent houses, beacons, or hills. These bearings are often accompanied with sailing directions in French such as this one indicating an anchorage with a 3-masted sailing ship at anchor. It triangulates a compass heading with a white marker on the Isle of Wight to a windmill on Portsea Island. "La Chapelle dans Portsmouth Common et le Moulin dans l'est du Chateau de South Sea l'un par l'autre N 14 NE".
Published by order of Contre-Amiral (Rear Admiral) Decres in An XII (year 12) of the French Revolution which is equivalent to 1803. With the circular logo of an anchor surrounded by "R.F." (REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE) used by the Depot during the revolution. Price when published was two Francs.The Depot de la Marine was established in 1720 under the French Ministry of the Navy to collect, preserve, and publish nautical charts, sailing directions, and maritime intelligence for the French naval service. Its purpose was both archival and practical: to centralize geographic knowledge gathered from voyages, surveys, and colonial administration, and to convert that information into standardized charts for navigation. Over the eighteenth century the Depot became the principal hydrographic authority of France, issuing engraved sea charts that incorporated data from naval expeditions, colonial outposts, and scientific voyages.
Following the French Revolution, the institution was reorganized and its chart production expanded, particularly during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as global maritime competition intensified. The Depot de la Marine supervised official surveys, revised earlier charts, and maintained copperplates for continued reissue as coastal knowledge improved. In 1886 it was formally reorganized as the Service hydrographique de la Marine, the predecessor of today’s French hydrographic office. Charts bearing the Depot imprint remain important records of French naval activity, colonial expansion, and the technical development of European hydrography.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1803
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: England
BODY OF WATER: Enlish Channel
CONDITION: Very good.
Clean and bright with adequate margins on heavy laid paper. One small spot outside the image in margin. Trace of binders stub on verso.
COLORING: Later careful hand coloring .
ENGRAVER:
SIZE: 35
" x
24 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 64
PRICE: $720
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