1748 Emanuel Bowen Map of the North Pole Showing an Alleged Northwest Passage

'the Northwest passage is more than probable.'

This is a scarce, fascinating map of the North Pole, produced by Emanuel Bowen in 1748. The map is a historical document of a contentious stage in the search for a Northwest Passage. A war of pamphlets and maps was then underway between British politician Arthur Dobbs (a fierce proponent of the existence of a northwest passage issuing from Hudson Bay) and the honorable - but hapless - Captain Christopher Middleton, whose survey of those coastlines proved that no such passage existed there. By showing such a passage and naming it Wager Strait rather than Wager Bay, this map places itself firmly in Dobbs' camp.

A Closer Look

The circular map is centered on the North Pole and extends slightly beyond 50°N, encompassing Hudson Bay, Newfoundland, the mouth of the St. Lawrence, the British Isles, northern Europe, and Siberia. Europe lies at the bottom, North America to the left, and Asia to the right. This arrangement brings the Atlantic and Pacific approaches to the Arctic into a single field of view, allowing the reader to compare the northern routes sought by generations of navigators.

Dotted tracks record voyages associated with Hudson, James, Willoughby, and Barents, among others. Their concentration along particular coastlines contrasts with the largely empty polar interior. Greenland's northern limits remain unresolved, while the broad region west of Hudson Bay is labeled Parts Undiscovered. An elaborate title cartouche occupies the poorly known North Pacific sector, where Bowen supplies ornament rather than a speculative American coastline.

Hudson Bay receives unusually close attention. Wager Strait, Rankin Inlet, Whale Cove, and neighboring openings provide the geographical foundation for the argument developed in the lower-right text. The distinction between a strait and a bay was consequential: a strait might lead onward to the Pacific, whereas a closed bay could not. Nevertheless, Bowen does not map the elaborate transcontinental waterways later associated with Admiral de Fonte. As Kenneth A. Kershaw observes, the text advances possibilities that the geographical drawing itself does not fully embody.

The two lower text panels explain both the map's sources and its commercial purpose. The left panel acknowledges Middleton's chart, other expeditionary material, and a recently published chart dedicated to Dobbs. The right declares that a passage to the South Sea, China, and the East Indies is more than probable. It argues that whales entering the western openings must come from the Pacific, invokes de Fonte's supposed encounter with a Boston trading vessel, and refers to the Parliamentary reward of £20,000. If the expedition then underway should fail, the text proposes approaching the problem from the Pacific by sailing around Cape Horn and entering the supposed passage from the north Pacific.

If At First You Don't Succeed, Shoot The Messenger

Powerful British politician and Irish Parliamentarian Arthur Dobbs (1689 -1765) came to believe in the existence of a Northwest Passage beginning in Hudson's Bay. Moreover, he was convinced that the Hudson's Bay Company had already discovered this route to the Pacific and kept it hidden to maintain control over its trade advantages. To reveal this secret, Dobbs funded a 1741 expedition to Hudson's Bay, commissioning former Hudson's Bay Company Captain Christopher Middleton to lead the survey. Middleton undertook the voyage, even wintering in Hudson's Bay, but (correctly) found no such passage. He published a chart showing his findings in 1743. The disappointed Dobbs was unconvinced, and accused Middleton of having, under the influence of his former HBC masters, lied about his findings. A pamphlet war ensued. A 1746 map, dedicated to Dobbs and drawn by Captain Middleton's perfidious clerk John Wigate, emphatically showed the existence of a potential passage to the Pacific in the form of 'Wager Strait.' Wigate and two other members of Middleton's crew - either at Dobbs' urging, or in an effort to curry his favor - perjured themselves, claiming that Middleton had misrepresented the alleged 'Wager Strait' as a closed 'Wager Bay.' Wigate's map, central to the affair, was drawn by none other than Emanuel Bowen, the author of the present work.

Another expedition, commanded by Francis Moor and accompanied by Henry Ellis in 1746, was dispatched aboard the Dobbs Galley specifically to prove Dobbs' accusations against Middleton. Ellis failed to achieve this goal, and his 1748 A New Chart of the parts where a North West Passage was sought in the Years 1746 and 1747 would confirm Middleton's report. Bowen was aware of the Ellis expedition, and referred to it in the text of this map:

the publick is in great expectation of new discoveries from the expedition of the Dobbs Galley and the California which passed by Yarmouth the 31st of May 1746 under convoy of Loo of 40 Guns, on their Voyage to Discover the N.W. passage by Hudson's Streights.

Bowen's map was very likely composed before the publication of Ellis' map: the Wager Straits are clearly and emphatically noted here, and Ellis' hopeful Chesterfield Inlet is not included south of it.

While the publication of Ellis' findings discouraged further English attempts at finding a Northwest Passage, the gauntlet was eagerly taken up by the French mapmakers Buache and De l'Isle who, in 1752, would combine the spurious Dobbs-influenced cartography with the apocryphal Pacific Northwest discoveries of Admiral de Fonte in an effort to propose a convincing passage between the Pacific Ocean and the North Atlantic.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn and engraved by Emanuel Bowen after 1746, and completed in time for inclusion in John Harris' 1748 Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca. Or, a complete collection of voyages and travels. The collection is well represented in institutional collections. This separate map is listed only six times in OCLC, but it has appeared on the market from time to time.

Cartographer

Emanuel Bowen (1694 - May 8, 1767) was a Welsh cartographer, map engraver, and publisher active in London during the first half and middle of the 18th century. Born at Talley, Carmarthenshire, he was apprenticed in 1709 to the London engraver and globe-maker Charles Price, beginning a career that combined the compilation of geographical information with copperplate engraving for booksellers and map publishers. His early work included maps for an Atlas of the World issued in 1717, followed by Britannia Depicta; or, Ogilby Improv'd (1720), prepared with John Owen, which brought together reduced road-strip maps, county maps, and historical and heraldic information in a portable volume. In 1729, Bowen published a subscription-funded map of South Wales, substantially improving the region's cartographic representation; the map's geographical information subsequently informed his Welsh county maps. After working at several London addresses, he established workshops in Aldersgate, Smithfield, and Clerkenwell, producing maps extensively for other publishers rather than relying on a prominent retail shop. His international cartography included maps for A Complete System of Geography (1744 - 1747), the 1744-48 edition of Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca, and A Complete Atlas (1752). He became geographer to George II around 1747. Among his apprentices were Thomas Kitchin (1719 - 1784), who married Bowen's daughter Sarah in 1739, and Thomas Jefferys (1719 - 1771), apprenticed in 1735. With Kitchin, Bowen produced the county maps issued between 1749 and 1760 that formed The Large English Atlas; their collaboration continued in The Royal English Atlas around 1763. His maps characteristically combined detailed geographical engraving and ornamental cartouches with extensive historical, economic, and topographical annotations. Despite his substantial output and royal appointment, Bowen died in reduced circumstances in 1767. His son and fellow engraver, Thomas Bowen (d. 1790), continued his cartographic work, including Atlas Anglicanus (1767 - 1768), which was completed and issued after Emanuel's death.   Further Details...

Source

Harris, John, Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca. Or, a complete collection of voyages and travels, edited by John Campbell, (London: Printed for T. Woodward) 1744 - 1748.    

Condition

Excellent. Light toning, else fine.

References

OCLC 425964623. Kershaw, Kenneth A., Early Printed Maps of Canada, vol. II, #418, plate 283; #419. Kershaw, Kenneth A., Early Printed Maps of Canada, vol. IV, chapter eight, 'The Apocryphal De Fonte Maps'. Trent University Archives, 87-001/HMC30. Wellcome Collection, EPB/D/27668.v1 and EPB/D/27668.v2. Williams, Glyndwr, 'Middleton, Christopher', Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. III, 1974. Williams, Glyndwr, 'Wigate, John', Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. III, 1974. Williams, Glyndwr, 'Moor, William', Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. III, 1974.