elwon captain (3 resultados)

No Binding. Condición: Very Good. B/w maritime chart with faint yellow hand colouring, dissected into 32 sections and mounted on original unbleached linen 74x107cm. Near fine, foxed. Very rare, with Worldcat locating editions for 1871 (Universite Rennes), 1873 (University of Chicago, St Galler Bibliotheksnetz, Kantonsbibliothek Vadiana St Gallen), 1938 (Paris Natural History Museum), and 1955 (Biblioteca Nacional de Espana). This is a French adaptation of the British East India Company's Indian Navy map drawn by Captain Thomas Elwon aboard HCS Benares and Commander Robert Moresby aboard HCS Palinurus during 1830-34, with corrections made by Captain W.J.S. Pullen and officers of HMS Cyclops in 1858. Engraved by J. Millian with tinting by Naudin, Nyon, it was first published by the French Depot des Cartes et Plans de la Marine in 1871. The Depot was reorganised as the Service Hydrographique de la Marine attached to the Naval General Staff in 1886, which apparently continued to publish it with corrections after that. This edition includes major corrections up to April 1889, and secondary corrections to May 1896. The Elwon / Moresby Survey was initiated by Charles Malcolm, Superintendent of the Bombay Marine / Indian Navy, who wanted to improve links between Britain and India by introducing steam powered vessels into the Red Sea. An extremely arduous undertaking involving "great dangers and privations", their work filled a gap in the availability of reliable charts with navigation hitherto reliant on the knowledge of Arab pilots and older surveys. The chart's coverage extends from Suez and Aqaba south to Zeylah (Zeila) on the British Somaliland coast, and Aden on the Yemeni coast on a scale of 1/2.54M. Details include numerous major and smaller settlements, mountain ranges and individually named mountains (with several spot heights), islands, reefs and shoals, with yellow colouring presumably for lighthouses. Inland locations shown on the Hejazi side include La Mecque (Mecca) and Medine (Medina), and on the Abyssinian side a carefully drawn route from Ansley Bay to Magdala via Dongola. This issue dates to the climax of Anglo-French rivalry in East Africa. While Britain was building its spine from the Cape to Cairo, France was seeking to link the Atlantic to the Red Sea from Dakar to Sudan. This conflict of interest ended with the Fashoda Incident in 1898, when France tried unsuccessfully to take control of the Upper Nile Basin.

The beautiful maps of the Red Sea . will ever remain permanent monuments of Indian Naval Science Engraved chart, inset view of Port Suakin, lighthouses marked in yellow, few nicks and tears to margin, skilfully repaired, not affecting image. This rare chart of the Red Sea is the result of the perilous surveying voyages undertaken by the sailors of the Indian Navy. In order to chart the dangerous waters of the Red Sea, a two-ship hydrographic expedition was launched under Captain Thomas Elwon and Commander Robert Moresby in 1829. Over the course of the following three years, the teams aboard the Palinurus and Benares surveyed the coastline and waters to ensure that the route from Europe to the East Indies was viable for new steam vessels. The diaries kept by crew members offer direct insight into their experiences in the Red Sea. As well as geographical and navigatory details, such as anchorages, fuel supplies and obstacles, these journals tell of the diseases that plagued both ships. One of the principal assistants in the task, Lieutenant Pinching, actually died in the sweltering African climate and was buried on the land off of the Gulf of Aden, shown in the lower right corner of the chart. More happily, Moresby's own diary celebrates the abundance of the mainland, where "provisions were plentiful and goodoranges, pears, apples, plums in season. And there were plenty of fine cabbages!". Also recorded are the techniques used in the surveying itself, which included using local boats and pilots to chart dangerous coastal areas, and on one occasion, Moresby is said to have sprung up the rigging to confirm that a distant mass was actually a reef. The charts produced from this surveying expedition proved of great importance throughout the rest of the nineteenth century, to such an extent that in his work, 'First Footsteps in East Africa', the explorer Richard Burton, states that they "will ever remain permanent monuments of Indian Naval Science, and the daring of its officers and men". The present chart shows depth with isolines and soundings, relief with hachures and spot heights, and identifies key features such as lighthouses and harbours. Port Suakin is shown in particular detail on an inset map because of its importance as a British colonial base; it is from Suakin that Kitchener led a contingent of the Egyptian Army in the 1880s. Although the chart is, in general, highly accurate, the reef of El Akhawin in the Northern part of the Sea is surprisingly misplaced, and its position was not correctly established for several decades. The imprint in the lower right corner identifies the engraving of this chart as the work of John and Charles Walker. Walker Cartographers had been responsible for naval charts since the British Hydrographic Office was established in the late eighteenth century, and subsequently produced numerous charts of the colonies. Rare Burton, 'First footsteps in East Africa or an exploration of Harar;', (1894); Moresby, 'A Record of Life and Service in the British Navy for a Hundred Years', (Murray, London 1909); Searight, 'The Charting of the Red Sea', (History Today, 2003); Wellsted, 'Travels in Arabia', (Murray, London 1838).

Engraved sea chart on two sheets, numerous soundings and a few coastal profiles, tracks of the Ship Palinurus, many place names in Arabic and English, watermarked 'J. Watman 1850', a few minor tears to margins. Large and detailed chart of the southern part of the Red Sea. The survey was carried out by Commander Robert Moresby aboard the 'Palinurus' a ship of the newly formed Indian Navy (formerly the Bombay Marine). The chart was held in such great esteem at the time that Richard Burton mentions it in his work 'First Footsteps in East Africa' (1856), in which he quotes from the 'Quarterly Review' (No. cxxix. Dec. 1839): In five years, the admirable maps of that coral-bound gulf - the Red Sea - were complete: the terrors of the navigation had given place to the confidence inspired by excellent surveys. In 1829 the Thetis of ten guns, under Commander Robert Moresby, convoyed the first coal ship up the Red Sea, of the coasts of which this skilful and enterprising seaman made a cursory survey, from which emanated the subsequent trigonometrical operations which form our present maps. Two ships were employed, the 'Benares' and 'Palinurus', the former under Commander Elwon, the latter under Commander Moresby. It remained, however, for the latter officer to complete the work. Some idea may be formed of the perils these officers and men went through, when we state the 'Benares' was forty-two times aground. He goes on to quote: The beautiful maps of the Red Sea, drafted by the late Commodore Carless, then a lieutenant, will ever remain permanent monuments of Indian Naval Science, and the daring of its officers and men.