Port of Bombay
1914
Original steel engraving with later hand colouring on paper
Map size: 39.5 x 26.25 in (100.6 x 66.5 cm)
With Mount size: 48 x 34.25 in (122 x 87 cm)
Published at the Admiralty 30th July 1894 under the Superintendence of Captain W J L Wharton, R N. Hydrographer. Number 655. Sold by J. D. Potter, London. Last corrections in 1886. Engraved by Davies and Company.
Surveyed by Navigation Lieutenants C V Smith, F Dobson, E C J Bond under the direction of Commander C F Oldham in charges of the Marine Survey of India, with additions by P Glynn Messent, Chief Engineer, Bombay Port Trust, 1914
New Editions of the map were made in January 1897, December 1899, July 1906, 27th February 1914 and 4th September 1914. This is the 1914 later hand coloured engraved chart updated from a chart of 1894.
Large British nautical sea chart. Sea charts such as this were working navigational aids which were commonly updated and corrected during their working lives by hand annotation and/or printed overlays. They may also feature manuscript navigational notes, comments or other markings.
Rare old British harbour chart from the British Admiralty Hydrographic Office of the port of Bombay (Mumbai), India. From Prince's Dock (constructed in 1885) in the north all the way down to just before Sassoon Dock in the south, this exquisitely engraved chart covers the Port of Bombay on the east side of the southern peninsula.
A table with information about the wet docks and graving docks, including the width of the entrance and the depth above the sill, is located to the left of the chart. Following are six insightful profile views of nearby navigational aids:
The Malet Shelf Beacon
North Channel Beacon
South Channel Beacon
North Kolaba (Colaba) Beacon
South Kolaba (Colaba) Beacon
Sunk Rock Lighthouse
Some of the key features and locations noted at the Port of Bombay are:
Great Indian Peninsula Railway lines and yard
Bombay, Baroda & Central India rail lines and Kolaba RY station
The dockyard
Sailor's home
Church Gate RY station
Fort district
Castle [Castle da Orta]
Ice house
Carnac, Nicol, and Musjid basins
The Pilot Pier
British Admiralty
Since 1795, the British Admiralty has created nautical charts under the authority of the UK Hydrographic Office (HO). Although its primary responsibility was to supply the Royal Navy with nautical goods and services, it has also been selling public charts since 1821.
King George III hired the pedantic geographer Alexander Dalrymple in 1795 to organise, catalogue, and enhance the Royal Navy's charts. In 1802, while serving as the Hydrographer to the Admiralty, he created the first chart. Dalrymple, who had a reputation for being difficult to work with, served until his passing in 1808, when Captain Thomas Hurd took over. Since then, naval officers have been in charge of the HO.
Hurd improved the office's professionalism and productivity. In 1823, the Arctic explorer Captain William Parry succeeded him. The HO sold more than 700 charts and views by the year 1825. The HO started taking part in exploration excursions under Parry. The first was a collaborative British, French, and Spanish expedition to the South Atlantic, which was partially sponsored by the Royal Society of London.
Hydrographer Royal Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort was chosen in 1829. Under his direction, the HO established the wind force scale that bears his name and started providing official tide tables in 1833. HMS Beagle undertook many surveying expeditions while under Beaufort, including its most well-known voyage, which Captain FitzRoy oversaw while Charles Darwin was on board. Beaufort resigned in 1855, leaving the HO with approximately 2000 charts in its database.
The Challenger expedition, which is credited with helping to establish oceanography as a field of study, was funded by the HO later in the nineteenth century. The International Meridian Conference, during which the Greenwich Meridian was chosen as the Prime Meridian, was attended by the HO. The HO took part in the first meeting of the International Hydrographic Organisation in 1921, continuing the regulation and standardisation of oceanic and navigational measures well into the twentieth century.
The HO chart manufacturing factory relocated to Taunton during World War II, where it now resides in its first ever purpose-built structure. The HMS Vidal, the first ship constructed specifically for surveying, set sail in 1953. Today, the Royal Navy's Hydrographic Squadron is made up of a whole class of survey ships. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the HO started to computerise its charts. The compilation team moved to Taunton in 1968, and the HO is still based there today.
This work will be shipped mounted
NON-EXPORTABLE
This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each book.