A NEW CHART OF THE BRITISH CHANNEL, c1746

by Captain Edmund Halley

published by Mount and Page

This reproduction is taken from an original document, held within the Archives of the UK Hydrographic Office, Taunton, Somerset.

This important chart is the direct result of Edmund Halley's third voyage in the Paramore. Between June and October 1701, Halley carried out a remarkable survey of the tidal streams and magnetic variation in the whole of the English Channel, as well as fixing the positions of many shoals, the Casquet Rocks and the Island of Alderney.

Halley (1656 - 1742) was already a distinguished scientist when he undertook two earlier voyages in the Paramore to obtain data on magnetic variation in the Atlantic; the first purely scientific voyages ever made. Although this chart is usually attributed to Sir Edmund Halley, it is believed that he only provided the scientific data on tides and magnetic variation.

The publishing house of Mount and Page was closely connected with the production of later editions of `The English Pilot' series which had been originally published by John Thornton. This chart was selected from the 1750 edition of `The English Pilot'.