DESCRIPTION: Interesting antique nautical chart of South Australia, the Bass Straight and upper coast of Tasmania published by the Depot des Cartes et Plans de la Marine ( France ). Numerous lighthouses marked as red dots with yellow highlights and red circles indicating scope of lighthouse visibility. Includes Port Phillip and the city of Melbourne. Right center includes inset profile views.
With a black over-stamp for Cartes de la Marine Impériale. Debrie Libraire au Harve, Seul Depositaire. Price: Deux 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: 1864
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Australia
BODY OF WATER: Bass Straits
CONDITION: Very Good.
 On thick laid paper with very wide wire marks. One vertical fold.
COLORING: Black and white with red circles indicating lighthouse visibility.
ENGRAVER: Chassant
SIZE: 36
" x
24 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 59
PRICE: $1400
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