NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: The Mapmakers--I need more!
From: Brian Whatcott
Date: 2002 Dec 12, 19:43 -0600
From: Brian Whatcott
Date: 2002 Dec 12, 19:43 -0600
At 08:51 AM 12/12/02, Jared Sherman, you wrote: >Trevor- > distant waters when they did,> > An Admiralty historian might very well have access to the letters > authorizing the surveys and explaining them. > >But considering the great amount of military action in the colonies in >those times, the actions which drove the Dutch out of New York, and the >obvious need to protect the new colonies from France and the Indian wars >(not to mention the insurrection of 1776), it would not require a crystal >ball for the Admiralty to foresee the need for good charts in those areas. > >British warships were doing plenty of action in the Colonies, one can only >imagine that at some point the Admiralty said "Damnit, we're going to have >those waters charted if we're going to keep sailing there." As you point >out, in their home waters they would at least have local knowledge >available, and the chance of rescue rather than shipwreck in a hostile >foreign land. When I visited West Point, I was struck by the great beauty and the obvious defensive virtues of this point on the River, where chains were stretched to guard against the possibility of a British advance along that route, which was seen as a serious threat. If I recall, some defensive works were dredged from that location quite recently. Sink Navy! Brian Whatcott Altus OK Eureka!
