The British Admiralty has produced nautical charts since 1795 under the auspices of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (HO). Its main task was to provide the Royal Navy with navigational products and service, but since 1821 it has also sold charts to the public.
In 1795, King George III appointed Alexander Dalrymple, a pedantic geographer, to consolidate, catalogue, and improve the Royal Navy’s charts. He produced the first chart as the Hydrographer to the Admiralty in 1802. Dalrymple, known for his sticky personality, served until his death in 1808, when he was succeeded by Captain Thomas Hurd. The HO has been run by naval officers ever since.
Hurd professionalized the office and increased its efficiency. He was succeeded by the Arctic explorer Captain William Parry in 1823. By 1825, the HO was offering over seven hundred charts and views for sale. Under Parry, the HO also began to participate in exploratory expeditions. The first was a joint French-Spanish-British trip to the South Atlantic, a voyage organized in part by the Royal Society of London.
In 1829, Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort was appointed Hydrographer Royal. Under his management, the HO introduced the wind force scale named for him, as well as began issuing official tide tables (1833). It was under Beaufort that HMS Beagle completed several surveying missions, including its most famous voyage commanded by Captain FitzRoy with Charles Darwin onboard. When Beaufort retired in 1855, the HO had nearly two thousand charts in its catalog.
Later in the nineteenth century, the HO supported the Challenger expedition, which is credited with helping to found the discipline of oceanography. The HO participated in the International Meridian Conference which decided on the Greenwich Meridian as the Prime Meridian. Regulation and standardization of oceanic and navigational measures continued into the twentieth century, with the HO participating at the first International Hydrographic Organization meeting in 1921.
During World War II, the HO chart making facility moved to Taunton, the first purpose-built building it ever inhabited. In 1953, the first purpose-built survey ship went to sea, the HMS Vidal. Today, there is an entire class of survey vessels that make up the Royal Navy’s Hydrographic Squadron. The HO began to computerize their charts in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1968, the compilation staff also came to Taunton, and the HO continues to work from there today.
With Hand Drawn Annotations Showing Contemporary Use At Sea Annotated example of the 1843 edition of the British Admiralty Chart of the strait between Melbourne and Tasmania, revised and improved to 1844 and 1858. The map is based upon the...
Fine example of the 1848 edition of the British Admiralty Chart of a large section of the East Coast of Australia, revised and improved to 1848. The chart is based upon the surveys of Matthew Flinders, between 1799 and 1803, including the tracks of his...
Fine example of the first edition of this early Admiralty Chart showing the ports in the Gulf of St. Vincent and Encounter Bay, published by the Admiralty in 1870. Detailed chart of the coastal region just south of Adelaide and east of Kangaroo...
First State of this scarce working sea chart of the Victoria Coastline, to the northeast of Melbourne, published by the British Admiralty. The chart starts at the border between New South Wales and Victoria, near Cape Howe and Gabo Island, and extends...
Northern sheet of this scarce working sea chart of St. Vincent and Spencer Gulfs on South Australia, published by the British Admiralty. The chart starts near Port Augusta and extends southeast to Adelaide and southwest to Port Lincoln. It includes...
Fine rare format chart of the Southern part of Australia, published by the British Admiralty. Includes Brisbane, Syndey, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Tasmania.
Fine two sheet chart of the Bass Straits published by the British Admiralty. The chart is based on the original surveys of John Lort Stokes and was periodically updated by the Admiralty over the next 40 years. John Lort Stokes (1811-1885) joined the...
Detailed sea chart of the approaches to Hobart, first published by the British Admiralty in 1889. The present example is corrected to 1912 and presents a highly detailed look at the Tasmanian Coastlilne between Recherche Bay and the Tasman Peninsula,...
Finely executed chart showing Port Lyttelton and environs, extending north to Christchurch. The chart extends the area from north of the Avon and Heathcote Estuary down to beyond Pigeon Bay, showing the soundings in fathoms from the Estuary outlet to...
An Important British Admiralty Polar Chart Rare separately published map of the Polar regions, published on June 29, 1835 in London by the British Admiralty. The present example is updated to 1849, which seems to be the the edition ordered for...
Rare separately published map of the Polar regions, published in December 1855 in London by the British Admiralty. Oriented with Greenwich meridian at the bottom, the map covers the Arctic Ocean and Arctic landmasses adjacent to it. On the verso are...
Rare and highly detailed map of the South Polar regions, published by the British Admiralty. The map incorporates information from the 1950 survey of the Antarctic Peninsula and the The Norwegian - British - Swedish Expedition (NBSAE) of 1949-52, the...
