1751 Anson Chart of Map of the Philippines

This is the 1751 edition of British circumnavigator and George Anson's most important published map, his nautical chart of the Philippines. Anson's 1744 swashbuckling voyage was celebrated, and his maps were reproduced in various editions and in several languages. This one, included in the French edition of Anson's Voyage published by Amsterdam and Leipzig publishers Arkstée and Merkus, is the most attractive, with bold engraving, a superb compass rose, and a rococco cartouche crowned with laurels.

Scope

The map covers the northern Philippine Islands from Cebu to the northern tip of Luzon. It is intended to illustrate the track taken by the Spanish treasure ships as they left Manila bound for the Americas; the track is shown leaving Cavite and threading the strait above Mindoro, passing below Marinduque and Burias, above Tiaco, then past Capul and the San Bernardino Islands before heading out to the Pacific just north of Samal.

A Celebrated Venture

In 1740, during the War of Jenkin's Ear (1739 - 1748), Anson lead an ill-equipped expedition into the Pacific with the mission to attack Spanish dominions in South America. Though he failed in that mission, Anson did succeed in capturing the Spanish treasure galleon Nostra Seigniora de Cabadonga off Cape Espiritu Santo on June 20, 1743. The Spanish galleon was loaded with gold, silver and, more importantly, nautical charts depicting the trade routes used by Spanish Galleons between Mexico and Manila for the previous 200 years. This significant discovery allowed the British to disrupt Spain's trade in the Pacific and thus economically handicap the Spanish dominance of the New World. Following his capture of the Nostra, its treasures were paraded through the streets of London in no less than 32 wagons. Anson was hailed as a national hero, and the publication of his exploits by Anson's ship's chaplain Richard Walter in A Voyage Round the World would spread his fame throughout Europe.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved for inclusion in the 1751 Arkstée and Merkus French edition of Anson's Voyage autour du monde. Although the Amsterdam/Leipzig publishing house produced a 1749 edition, its version of this map was a simpler engraving on a different plate; this plate appears in no later editions. We see no examples of this separate map cataloged in institutional collections; the full text appears in seventeen citations in OCLC.