Ode To Oceanography: An Antique Nautical Chart of The British Isles
- The Persaud Catalog
- Nov 15
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 19
Today’s antique nautical chart is a 168-year-old chart of the British Isles! The chart depicts the entirety of the British Isles, Ireland, & the tides around said areas. The British Isles are the islands
the administrative region of the Isle of Man, & the United Kingdom. The chart showcases the tides of Northwestern France, Norway, Northwestern Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, & the Isle of Man. It also depicts the Isles of Skye, Mull, Lewis, & Grimsay, which are a part of the Inner & Outer Hebrides. This tidal information is meant to be during the new & full moon, meaning these tides are spring tides.
The map is in English, & it contains an immense amount of information about tidal, & depth information. In addition to this, it lists the names of numerous coastal towns, as well as various major cities, including Londonderry, Perth, & Edinburgh. This would have been valuable to any sailor of the era attempting to traverse the British Isles, especially one attempting to visit one of the non-major cities.
The chart is fairly sized, at 23 inches wide & 19 inches long. It does contain some colour, with outlines of green, magenta, & yellow. The majority of the chart is some variation of grey, with lighter tones indicating lower tides & land.
In today’s article, we shall discuss the map itself, & perform an analysis of it! With that being said, let us delve into the cool, unforgiving waters of the British Isles!
The Chart
As discussed in the introduction, this map depicts the British Isles, the Hebrides, Northwestern France, Northwestern Germany, the Netherlands, & Southern Norway. It includes numerous town names along Great Britain, & Ireland, from Wickford to Dunbar.
The chart is free of scratches or tears, with it being in pristine conditions apart from some minor spots & yellowing.
The chart has small amounts of colour, particularly magenta, green, & yellow, outlining the shorelines of Norway, Northwestern France, & Great Britain. Apart from that, it is various shades of grey, with lighter shades indicating shallower depths.
The chart contains a variety of bathymetric information, meaning information about the sea floor, particularly its depth. As was standard at the time, the information is in fathoms, which is an old nautical measurement (1 fathom = 6 feet).
The chart is in pristine condition, with no rips, tears, or creases, although it does have some small dark spots.
An Analysis Of The Chart
This chart was constructed by W. & A. K. Johnston under the direction of J. Scott Russell. It was published in 1857, as No. 4 in their hydrography collection, under the title “Tidal Chart of the British Seas: Showing the Progress of the Wave of High Water, the Hour of High Water in Greenwich Time at New and Full Moon; and the Depth of the Sea”. William & Alexander Keith Johnston were a pair of brothers who were Scottish cartographers, hydrographers, & geographers. Together, they started their own cartography & engraving business in 1826, with the motto “Ready, Aye, Ready!”. Their offices were located at 4 St. Andrews Square in Edinburgh, where this chart was most likely manufactured.
As mentioned in the introduction, it was constructed under the guidance of J. Scott Russell, a prominent oceanographer of the time. He partnered with the brothers Johnston, & assisted in gathering data for the chart. The chart fulfilled the massive task of giving sailors, merchants, biologists, & similar professionals of the time a grasp of what spring tides are, how they differ from regular tides, how they differ from neap tides, & what this all translates to practically.
As far as records indicate, this chart was created for civilian use, for those who were navigating the British Seas.
Considering the quality of the chart, & the time that it was manufactured in, it was most likely manufactured using Lithography.
Lithography is a method of printing that arose in the 1820s, & remained the most popular method of printing in both color & grayscale until the early 1960s, when more efficient methods became available. Although it has existed since the mid-1790s, it took a long time to gain popularity in Europe due to technical difficulties, & only began gaining commercial popularity in the early 1820s. It is still widely used for certain kinds of printing, such as fine art printing today, however, digital printing is far more common.
In the lithographic method, the artist will draw directly onto a printing surface, such as zinc, or copper, until they are satisfied with the drawing. After this, the surface will be covered with a chemical etch, which will bond it to the surface. With this process, the blank areas will attract moisture to the plate & repel the lithographic ink, while the areas that are drawn on will hold the ink. Water is then wiped onto the unpainted areas to help prevent the ink from deviating. After the image is inked, a paper is laid over it & covered with a tympan, & the tympan is pressed down. Finally, these materials pass through the scraper bar of the litho-press. Afterward, an exact copy of what was supposed to be printed is revealed.
It is still useful for making high-resolution prints in high quantities, & is used in fine-art prints to this day.
Directories / Credits
All credit for this map analyzed today goes to Rare Maps, a California rare & antique maps store. To purchase this chart, antique atlases, or other cartographic objects, please visit www.raremaps.com. To be clear, this is not an advertisement for Rare Maps, as we do not have a partnership with them.
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Of course it's a nonsense to claim that "British Isles" is a geographical term in any context, or ever was. It's a national/political term, and it's been incorrect to include Ireland for a century. Similarly, I wouldn't go around claiming Ukraine was part of the Russian Plain and that saying so was "purely geographical".
But yes. Antique maps still show things like that.