Map/Chart > The Caribbean

Chart of the Virgin Isles, from Lockwood's Trigonometrical Survey Taken in 1811 by Order of the Commander In Chief Admiral Sir Francis Laforey

This beautiful chart was produced by Robert Blanchford from his Navigation Warehouse, London in 1813. It is based upon famous Lockwood Trigometrical Survey of 1811, as was a later Jefferys publication of the same region.

Chart Information
Reference:	A520
Date	1813
Hydrographer/Surveyor/Artist:	Robert Blachford
Size Of Original:	w 41” x h 29”
Paper Type	Innova Smooth Cotton 315gsm

Further Information

Chart ID	Size	Dimensions	Print Only
A520	Original	w41" x h29"	$227
A520x	Half	w29" x h20.5"	$112

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Read the full Chart History here: 

The survey or chart is especially interesting for a number of reasons:  First of all, the hydrographical information is very well detailed and is accompanied by some excellent notes on the best channels and passages through the islands.  The notes specify where the best anchorages are and even offer a guide as to what may be expected in certain places;  'In the passages and also in Drakes Channel the Current running quick over foul ground causes a Ripple which wears the appearance of danger..' .  The chart contains several remarks at places where ships have previously struck upon rocks and also where there are sunken rocks which offer a hidden danger.  The safest channels are similarly marked; 'the round Rock passage is by far the best, Vessels bound to the Northward bu hauling up under the Dog Islands are at once clear of everything'.

The second most obvious feature of the chart is the inclusion of data relating to the Population and Annual Produce of four of the Islands: St. Thomas's, St. John's, Anegada and Virgin Gorda (this latter table is incomplete).  Even a quick glance at the information provided on St. Thomas's and St. John's, as to their annual produce, is quite staggering.   The island of Anegada is in itself quite remarkable, not so much for the produce but for the number of shipwrecks listed around its western shoreline.  In 1784 the number of settlers on the island had been recorded at three families and their slaves.  Tradition has them having first reached the island as far back as 1776.  By 1811 the population had risen but it is clear that they were not all just farmers.  Indeed the profession of 'wrecking' was a long established 'trade' in both the Caribbean and the Bahamas (see heritage Charts A523).  Wreckers were known not just to have waited for a passing ship to strike a reef but to deliberately lure vessels on to the rocks by using fires and lanterns.  Having grounded the vessel they would then plunder its cargo.  Blachford is careful, and generous, in his notes to comment that 'The wreckers of Anegrada are constantly on the alert and traverse with their Shallops the narrow Passages of the Reefs with astonishing alacrity, actuated by their hope of Plunder they save many valuable lives. It is worth noting that the well known London publishers Laurie and Whittle, in their version of 'The Virgin Islands, Trigonometrically Surveyed ...', published the following year (1816), included exactly the same detail of shipwrecks on Anegada as seen here.  The most likely explanation for which is that the information was included originally by Lockwood from whom both charts drew their data. Overall, this chart is one of the most pleasing, and informative, to be found of the Virgin islands.  Like all great maps and charts there is always more to see and  notice with every viewing.