Michelot and Bremond
1730

Plan de la Rade d'Alicant

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 eighteenth century French cartographer with a close connection to the sea. He described himself as Hydrographer and Pilot of the Galere Royale (Royal Galley), and was associated with a corps of approximately forty galleys (galeres), oared sailing vessels operating in the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic coast. In the Mediterranean, these galleys were based primarily at the naval arsenal in Marseilles, France. They were typically rigged with triangular Mediterranean lateen sails, a configuration well suited to coastal navigation and variable winds.

Bookseller and royal hydrographer Laurent Bremond, styled “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”). Bremond played a key role in the commercial distribution of nautical knowledge, supplying working mariners as well as official and institutional clients.

The collaborative output of Michelot and Bremond, produced roughly between 1715 and 1730, included an atlas of sixteen small-scale charts, a port book containing thirty-seven large-scale charts, and a Mediterranean coast pilot titled Portulan de la Mer Mediterranee, ou Guide des Pilotes Cotiers. Issued in multiple languages and published in editions extending at least to 1805, this body of work became a primary source of navigational information for the Mediterranean for many decades. The charts of Michelot and Bremond were highly influential and were frequently copied by later chartmakers, including Kitchin and Roux.

CREATOR: Michelot and Bremond

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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