In the recently published Charts and surveys of the Somerset coast c.1350-1824 is an account of a series of three charts covering the Bristol Channel that appear never to have been published.1 It is clear that even from 1807 the Admiralty’s Hydrographer knew there was a deficiency in the charting of the Bristol Channel, but exactly when steps were taken to rectify this is not clear.2 Can it be assumed that following the appointment of Captain Thomas Hurd R.N. (1754-1823) as Hydrographer to the Admiralty Board in 1808 he soon after took steps to rectify this problem? Evidence for this appears in the contents list of an atlas titled Charts of the English Channel: Compiled, Selected, & Engraved, in the Hydrographical Office, from Original Surveys and other Authorities, for the use of the Royal Navy by Capt. Hurd, R.N. Hydrographer to the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, printed by Ballintine and Byworth in 1811. The printed contents list shows 43 charts divided into two types, either ‘general’ or ‘particular’. The ‘general’ type of charts are small scale and were compiled in the Hydrographical Office from a variety of sources. The ‘particular’ charts cover smaller areas, such as Tor Bay, Plymouth Sound or the north coast of Kent. Although the atlas is dated 1811 the contents page has a watermark of 1808 and one of the charts has a publication date of 7 March 1812.
The Bristol Channel is included on a small scale chart of the entrance to the English Channel extending in the north as far as Aberystwyth, east to Portland, south to St Gildas (France) and west to the Blaskets (off the south west coast of Ireland). But the contents page of the atlas shows entries for three specific charts of the Bristol Channel and one for Milford Haven that were ‘Intended’ for publication. Unfortunately the four charts were not included in the atlas. However, as this atlas does contain Lieutenant Murdoch Mackenzie’s chart covering the coast from St Agnes (Cornwall) to Hartland Point (Devon),3 the remaining part of the Bristol Channel, including the entire Somerset coast, was intended for publication and the three charts identified as E143/1-3 are the manuscript compilations.4 Therefore Hurd put in place a programme of chart scheming for the Bristol Channel when the idea of this atlas was conceived, some time before it was published in 1811. Why these charts appear not to have been published in 1811 is far from clear. Perhaps they may have been published afterwards, but despite an extensive search examples have not come to light.
1. A.J. Webb, Charts and surveys of the Somerset coast c.1350-1824 S.R.S. 97 (2015), 157-68.
2. Webb, Charts, 161.
3. Captain Hurd, Charts of the English Channel: Compiled, Selected, & Engraved, in the Hydrographical Office, from Original Surveys and other Authorities, for the use of the Royal Navy by Capt. Hurd, R.N. Hydrographer to the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty (London, 1811).
4. United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, E143/1-3 shelf Dc.
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