DESCRIPTION: French antique navigation chart of the "Vieux Canal" or old canal of the Bahamas. Other features (in French) include Canal de Santarem and Banc de Los Rocques. Inset chart of the anchorage near Cayo Blanco ("les Cayes de Piedras, Monillo, et autres ajacentes") and of the anchorage at Cayo Verde and Cayo Confites. Circular logo of the Depot de la Marine.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: 1801
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Caribbean
BODY OF WATER: Caribbean Sea
CONDITION: Good.
No major issues inside the neatline. Repairs to outer margin. Slightly soiled.
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER: Collin
SIZE: 35
" x
22 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 67
PRICE: $489
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