Promotional Information

Considers the history and development of the sea chart and the related nautical map, in both scientific and aesthetic terms.

About the Author

Lieutenant-Commander John Blake, FRIN, spent twelve years in the Royal Navy. He has worked extensively with the UK Hydrographic Office, the producers of Admiralty Charts, and is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation. John is the author of the acclaimed Conway publications The Sea Chart (2003) and Sea Charts of the British Isles (2005). His research interests span the maritime world, from nautical charts and surveying to merchant shipping.

Reviews

The magnificent, enduring legacy which Lt Cdr John Blake, RN, has bequeathed to the world is one of those astonishing volumes which changes lives because it transforms the way history is viewed. Thank you, Lt Cmdr Blake. You have become the second Blake to bring nautical greatness to the Royal Navy!
*Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis*

.. in this lustrous work, John Blake ... has assembled a mouth-watering collection with which to illuminate this history of cartography.
*Classic Boat Magazine*

… the book is a useful and beautifully produced look at a subject which has important implications in the study of navigation, exploration, whaling, colonisation and empire.
*History Today*

New books on sea charts are most welcome, especially when they contain material rarely or never previously published. John Blake has trawled a variety of chart collections ... and has put together a most interesting volume.
*Navigation News?*

As a Bridge Officer I always greatly enjoyed using those older surveys ... and John Blake has produced a scholarly work, one of the most magnificent nooks I have seen for some time. A MUST for all navigators and students of the history of navigation.
*Gunline (Newsletter of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary) ?*

....John Blake's magnificently illustrated and informative book.
*Navy News*

A mouth-watering collection of historic nautical maps and navigational charts.
*The Tablet*

Wonderfully presented and lavish ... beautiful to look at but [the maps'] influence on history is much greater than even the aesthetic pleasure they now bring.
*Catholic Herald*