1923 Japanese Nautical Chart / Map of Singapore Island and Strait

Striking Japanese Nautical of Singapore Strait.

This is a rare and striking large format 1923 Japanese nautical chart of Singapore Strait. Centered on Singapore Island, this maritime map covers from Great Karimum Island in the west quadrant to Pulo Bintang in the east, it extends north as far as the Malay Peninsula and Jahore Strait and as far south as Pulo Bulan. Cartographically this map references 19th century British Admiralty charts of the same region with numerous updates to 1923. Throughout there is a wealth of practical information for the mariner, including notations on tides, anchorage, shipping lanes, and countless depth soundings in fathoms. Offers some inland detail particularly on Singapore Island and Singapore City. Most text is in English but there are also number of Japanese titles and annotations. Japanese Hydrographic Department stamps appear in the upper left margin and on the verso. Represents Hydrographic Department Chart no. 624.

Cartographers

The Hydrographic Department of Japan (1871 - present) was established in 1871 to carry out various marine surveys and observations for the Japanese military. Initially the Hydrographic Department did little more than collect and update British Admiralty and U.S. Hydrographic charts focusing on East Asia, however, as the department matured, it began to commission its own survey work through the region. Today the Hydrographic department has been folded into the Japanese Coast Guard's Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department.   Further Details...

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of privately funded nautical mapping and publishing left vast portions of the world uncharted and many excellent charts unpublished.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. Some toning on original fold lines. Japanese government stamps to margins. Professional reinforcement of folds on verso.