Map of Bombay Harbour
1897
Original steel engraving with later hand colouring on paper
Map size: 41.5 x 27.25 in (105 x 69 cm)
With mount: 49.75 x 35.5 in (126 x 90 cm)
Published at the Admiralty 14th January 1885 under the Superintendence of Captain W J L Wharton, R N Hydrographer. Number 2621. Sold by J. D. Potter, London. Last corrections in this map was on February 1897. Engraved by Davies and Company.
Surveyed by Navigation Lieutenants Commander L S Dawson, assisted by the Surveying Officers of the I G S Investigator 1881-2, Kolaba to Mazgaon by E W Petley and T C Poscoe, 1880-81
New Editions of the map were made over the period of time. This is the 1897 later hand coloured engraved 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.
Llewwllyn Styles Dawson (1848-1921) created a highly accurate, large-scale hydrographic chart of Mumbai's Bombay Harbour in 1881 after being chosen to direct the officially recognised Marine Survey of India and receiving a special promotion to captain. The chart was first published on January 14th, 1885, and was updated on March 27th, 1914, with minor revisions made in 1921.
A unique and exceptional nautical chart or map of Bombay (Mumbai) Harbour, India, created by the British Admiralty in 1897, provides incredibly detailed images of the harbour in Bombay, from Salsette in the north to Warsole Creek and Veshvee in the south. The rendering of Bombay's peninsula and metropolis is exquisite down to the level of individual structures. describes the locations of piers, docks, lighthouses, the observatory, lifeboats, the mint, numerous workshops, and palaces. It also includes information about the Lunatic Asylum. The coastline is covered in tiny fields and palm trees. Also includes geographical details like forts, wetlands, undersea shoals, and old ruin sites.
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.
Llewellyn Styles Dawson (1848-1921)
Llewellyn Styles Dawson worked as a midshipman in the Mediterranean between 1836 and 1865 on the surveying ships HMS Medina and HMS Hydra. On the coastlines of China and Japan, he was then sent to the HMS Sylvia and HMS Serpent. He was made a Lieutenant in 1869 and successfully surveyed the Yangtze River. He oversaw the Livingstone hunt in 1872, but resigned after only six months. He was given the task of exploring the New Guinean coast at Moresby in 1873. at 1875, he was given command of HMS Renard, and then HMS Alacrity, to survey the Fiji Islands. He was given the responsibility for the newly constituted Marine Survey of India in 1881 and received a special promotion to commander. In order to examine the Mediterranean and Red Sea shores of Africa, Spain, Turkey, and Greece, he was moved to the command of HMS Sylvia in 1885. By 1889, he was operating in the Torres Strait while in charge of the HMS Rambler at Thursday Island. His final naval assignment was to map the Western Australian coasts in 1895. He left active duty in 1897 and passed away on December 8, 1921. 'Memoirs of Hydrography', his memoirs, were released in 1885. Royal Navy Lieutenant, afterwards promoted to Commander.
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NON-EXPORTABLE
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