Display 12: Charts & Maps

De ontdekking van het Zuiderkruis door Amerigo Vespucci
Uit "Americae Retectio", plaat nr. 18: Een sterrenhemel omringt Amerigo Vespucci die de omtrek van de aarde meet op basis van het sterrenbeeld van het Zuiderkruis. De ontdekkingsreiziger wordt omringd door diverse technologische instrumenten en zijn slapende bemanning. Een inzet bevat een portret van Dante Alighieri, die over hetzelfde sterrenbeeld schreef in zijn "Goddelijke Komedie".
Ioan Stradanus inuent, Ian. Collaert Sculp. Phis Galle Excudit. 

The invention of the compass
From “Nova Reperta”, plate Nr.2 :: Seated to right, seen on profile, Flavio Amalfitano at his desk measuring a compass while reading a book; a globe and an hourglass also seen on his desk and a dog at bis feet; opposite him, floating on air, a sailing ship and below another desk with books and an astrolabe globe; a large recipient filled with liquid and a stone at centre seen in the foreground, to left.

Discovery of the Longitude method by compass deviation by Johannes Plancius.
From “Nova Reperta”, plate Nr. 16: A large sailing ship with a Jesuit flag, navigating the sea; a man ( Plancius) seated in the stern of the ship measures the longitude with a compass and the culmination of the sun at noon.

Discovery of ‘America’ by Christopher Columbus
From “Americae Retectio”: ‘Christopher Columbus, a native of Liguria, overcame the dangers of the ocean and added the territories he discovered of an almost new world to the realm of the Spanish kings.’

Not a real nautical chart to be used on board, but all the characteristics of a nautical chart, with a view of Dunkirk and Grevelingen at the bottom.
On the left a detail of the view of Dunkirk and Calais, as described by 'captain Pieter Codde van Enchuysen'.

A nautical chart of the North Sea, with the South-East above, from Merian's 'Theatrum Europaeum'

The English Channel printed on thick paper for use at sea. Doncker's maps were the most up-to-date in the second half of the seventeenth century.
The compass holes prove that this map was used as an atlas at sea.

Pas Caart van NOORT-ZEE verthoonenede in zich alle custen en Havens daer rontom gelegen. Amsterdam by Hendrick Doncker 
West-oriented map.
Decorative cartouche with scale lines at the bottom left. Shows the North Sea in its entirety, with the coasts of England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Norway

'Pascaert van de NOORD ZEE Van Ameloo tot de hoofden van Amsterdam' , Fr de Wit
'Mare Germanicum ab Amelandia ad Promontoria Caleti et Doverae'
Seachart of the North Sea and waters of the channel from Ameloo to Dover and Calais and the English south-coast.

Sea chart of the North Sea coast, the mouth of the Scheldt and also the coast of Dover and Margate. The South in above.

The nautical map shows the southern part of the North Sea with the adjacent coasts of England, Holland and Flanders.

Beautemps-Beaupré, C.F. Paris de l' Imprimerie de la République (J..J. Marcel), Depot de la Marine, Paris The first detailed map with all the depth soundings of the Belgian coast made by the founder of modern hydrography on behalf of Napoleon.

NORTH SEA, DOVER and CALAIS to ORFORDNESS and SCHEVENINGEN
Hydrographic Office, London 1906 (reprinted in 1948, corrected 1960) A fairly modern nautical chart with all the details in terms of depth, banks, buoys, beacons, currents, compass roses, etc

Noordzee Vlaamse Banken van Gravelines tot Oostkapelle, scale 1:100000 D11
Hydrografische Dienst Oostende.
A modern chart of the Belgian coast, like you can still find on the brigde of modern seagoing ships, Without manuel corrections.