1945 Admiralty Nautical Chart / Map of Singapore, Malay, Malacca Strait

Notes bombing sites in manuscript.

This is an attractive 1945 (1951) British Admiralty nautical chart or maritime map of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, and the Strait of Malacca. Coverage extends roughly from Penang to Pulo Bintang, including the southern part of Malaya and the eastern coast of Sumatra. Offers countless depth soundings and excellent inland detail, particularly in Perak. Manuscript annotation in the upper left detail an 'Air Firing Bombing' site, suggesting military use.

Publication History and Census

This chart was first engraved by the British Admiralty Hydrographic Office in 1898. It went through numerous updates and revisions, the most recent major revision being 1945 - likely in anticipation of retaking Malaya and Singapore at the end of World War II. The present chart features minor corrections and updates to 1951.

Cartographer

The British Admiralty Office (1795 - Present), or the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, is the Branch of the English government responsible for commanding the British Navy. In 1795, King George III created the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, known as the U.K.H.O., to provide high-quality nautical charts for the Royal Navy. Before the Admiralty's founding, surveying and creating nautical charts was primarily a commercial venture, and the cartographer himself often financed the printing of his own material. Even the great navigator Cook is known to have scrambled for funds to publish his own seminal charts - the most important and advanced of the period. The system of privately funded nautical mapping and publishing left vast portions of the world uncharted and many excellent charts unpublished. King George III, responding to significant losses in trade revenue from shipwrecks and delays caused by poor charts, recognized the need for an institutionalized, government-sponsored cartographic agency: the Admiralty. The first head of the Admiralty, a position known as Hydrographer, was the important cartographer Alexander Dalrymple. Dalrymple began by organizing and cataloging available charts before starting the laborious process of updating them and filling in the blanks. The first official Admiralty Chart appeared in 1800 and detailed Quiberon Bay in Brittany. By 1808, Captain Thomas Hurd became Hydrographer. Hurd advocated selling Admiralty charts to the general public and, by the time he retired in 1829, had issued and published about 736 charts. Stewardship then passed to Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort. Under Beaufort's administration, the Admiralty truly developed as a "chart-making" rather than a "chart-cataloging" institution. Beaufort held his post from 1829 to 1854. In his 25 years at the Admiralty, Beaufort created nearly 1,500 new charts and sponsored countless surveying and scientific expeditions, including the 1831 to 1836 voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle. By 1855, the Admiralty's chart catalog listed some 1,981 charts.   Further Details...

Condition

Good. Even overall toning. Some pencil marks related to military use.