DESCRIPTION: Highly detailed antique nautical chart of the harbor and town of Barfleur, France and the surrounding coastline extending about 1.5 French mille marine to the north and south. Roads, fields, and very rocky offshore topography near the coast are depicted with great detail and relief. This graphic treasure captures the state of that stretch of coastline as it was in 1832 from the Pointe de Barfleur with its lighthouse to the north, past Anse Crabet and dozens of small islets, beyond the Plateau de Antiqueires and Plateau de Moulard to Anse de Landemer south of Barfleur. Nearby villages depicted include Monfarville, Quenanville, and Gatteville.
Manuscript notation of a cannon battery at the far east end of Barfleur harbor includes four red lines extending into the sea presumably marking the prospective firing angle and range of those cannon protecting the navigational channel. Circular stamp of Depot General de la Marine. Number 848. Price 2 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: 1836
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: France
BODY OF WATER: Seine River
CONDITION: Very good
Single horizontal fold. A few small light stains. On heavy wove paper.
COLORING: None but manuscript red and blue lines.
ENGRAVER: E. Collins fils
SIZE: 23
" x
34 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 0
PRICE: $355
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