Tofiño de San Miguel, Vincente
Vincente Tofiño de San Miguel (September 6, 1732 - 1795) was a Spanish naval officer and hydrographer active in the second half of the 18th century. Tofiño was born in Cadiz, Spain. His father, a career army officer, died in the 1746 Battle of Placentia, leaving Vincente an orphan from age 14. He moved to Extremadura where his uncle, a priest, raised him. In 1750, following in his father's footsteps, he joined the army. Having discovered a proficiency in mathematics, Tofiño was assigned to an artillery unit. In 1755, moving from the army to the navy, where his skills were better suited, he became a professor of mathematics at the Academia de Guardia Marinas de Cádiz. He would remain in the navy for the subsequent 30 years, ultimately attaining the rank of Rear Admiral. Between 1783 and 1788, as a navy officer, astronomer, and hydrographer, he was deployed to survey the Mediterranean ports of Spain, the Balearic Islands, and the Barbary Coast. He trained the explorers Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés y Flores Bazán, who named Tofino Inlet, in Vancouver, after him. Tofiño was elected correspondent of the Spanish Academy of History and of the French and Portuguese Academies of Science. He died in Cadiz in 1795.
First modern chart of the Azores.
Carte Réduite des Îles Açores dressée Par Ordre du Ministre de la Marine Pour le Service des Vaisseux Français, d'après les Observations faites par M. de Fleurieu, en 1769 et par Don Vicente Tofiño en 1788. / Publiée au Dépôt général des Cartes, Plans et Journaux de la Marine. 1791.
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This elegant, separately-issued, Depot de la Marine nautical chart / map of the Azores is the first to employ modern nautical surveys using marine chronometers. This chart combines the data of the French hydrographer Charles Pierre Claret, Comte de Fleurieu (1738 - 1810), with that of the Spanish hydrographer Vincente Tofiño de San Miguel (1732 - 1795), whose respective surveys represented the first scientific charting of the Azores. It represents a vast improvement over the 1755 Bellin Carte Réduite des Îles Açores, which, until 1791, was the best French charting of the islands. (more details)