The Sea Chart

To sail the oceans needed skill as well as courage, and the sea chart was the tool by which ships of trade, transport or conquest navigated their course. This book looks at the history and development of the chart and the nautical map as a means of safe and accurate seaborne navigation. Indeed, by the eighteenth century the discovery and charting of the coasts and oceans of the globe had become a strategic naval and commercial requirement.

Such involvements led to Cook's voyages in the Pacific, the search for the Northwest Passage and races to the Arctic and Antarctic. The volume is arranged along chronological and then geographical lines. Each of the ten chapters is split into two distinct halves examining the history of the charting of a particular region and the context under which such charting took place.

Following this, specific navigational charts and views together with other relevant illustrations are presented. The Sea Chart is a comprehensive study of historical maps, conveying their unique scientific and aesthetic interest.