DESCRIPTION: Antique copperplate portulan-style nautical chart / plan of Alicante, Spain and nearby waters.
This chart is one of 37 port plans published by Henry Michelot and Laurens Bremond ca. 1730 in their atlas of small scale Mediterranean ports: "Recueil de Plusieurs Plans de Ports et Rades de la Mer Mediterranée" . Single compass rose with radiating rhumb lines and fleur de lis indicating north. Charming profile view of Alicante topped by "le Chateau". Chart coverage extends eastward from a guard tower past Cap de la Houerta and ends at the prominent villa "la Ste. Face ou la Veronique".
Obligatory '+' symbols for rock at every headland and few soundings suggest that the authors were not as familiar with these waters as with other areas they charted. Three suggested anchorages are designated. These anchorages are arranged as expected by the relative draft of each vessel. The "mouillage de vaisseaux" is farthest from shore, with the "mouillage des barques" and "mouillage des galeres" each in progressively shallower water.
Henry Michelot and Laurens Bremond
Henri Michelot was an early 18th century French cartographer with a close connection to the sea. Michelot, self-described Hydrographer and Pilot of the Galere Royale or Royal Galley, was then part of a corps of approximately 40 galleys (galeres) or oared sailing vessels stationed in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast. In the Mediterranean, galleys were based primarily at the arsenal in Marseilles, France. Galleys were typically rigged with the triangular Mediterranean "Lateen" sail(s).
Bookseller and royal hydrographer Laurent Bremond "Hydrographe du Roi et de la Ville" sold charts and maritime books from his establishment in Marseille located near the port at the corner of Reboul street ( "au Coin de Reboul").
The output of Michelot and Bremond, from approximately 1715 through 1730 consisted of an atlas of 16 small-scale charts, a port book of 37 large-scale charts, and a coast pilot of the Mediterranean: "Portulan de la Mer Mediterranee, ou Guide des Pilotes Cotiers." Their work (the "Portulan" was published in several languages at least until 1805) and was a primary source of navigational information about the Mediterranean for years. The charts of Michelot and Bremond were often copied by others such as Kitchin and Roux.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1730
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Spain
BODY OF WATER: Mediterranean
CONDITION: Very Good
 Paper only very slightly tanned but strong with good platemark. Slightly browned at edges.
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER: 
SIZE: 9
" x
6 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 4
PRICE: $300
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