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Scotland’s First Sea Atlas
- By The Map Collector
- Published 1 March 1985
- Maps
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The Map Collector
The Map Collector, initiated by Peter Scott and Valerie G. Newby, was a journal on historical cartography published every quarter. The first issue appeared in 1997 and continued for nearly 20 years. After 74 issues the last copy appeared in Spring 1996. Mrs. Valerie G. Newby, is presently editor of the IMCoS Journal.
www.imcos.org
By John N. Moore (Glasgow University Library)
THE MAPPING OF SCOTLAND has a markedly different history from that of its southern neighbour. Often later in development, Scottish maps have their own native style based on the work of local cartographers. However, during the late seventeenth century, two men from either side of the border, Greenvile Collins and John Adair, made parallel efforts to produce sea charts of the east coast of Scotland. This is all the more surprising .as this was a time of comparative recession in home map-making and the copying of surveys was quite common. In both cases, the atlases of engraved sea charts proved to be their only published volume of work. Yet, whereas Collins is celebrated as a coastal surveyor and his Coasting Pilot (1693) reappeared no less than twenty times up to 1792, Adair has tended to be overshadowed by his contemporaries and his Description of the Sea-Coast and Islands of Scotland is a very rare work, appearing in only one edition in 1703.
Up until this time, British navigators had relied heavily on Dutch charts, even in home waters. Dutch fishing fleets visited the coastal grounds regularly and sea captains fed geographical information back to the large printing houses in Amsterdam. Their domination of the map trade was barely dented by John Seller's attempt to pass off reworked Dutch plates as a home-based marine atlas. The naval engagements of the Dutch wars only served to emphasise still further the lack of accurate British surveys. In England, the realisation of this need led to Charles II appointing Captain Greenvile Collins, a commander in the Royal Navy, to make a survey of the sea coast of the Kingdom by measuring all the sea coast with a chain and taking all the bearings of the headlands with their exact latitude/ in 1681. Five years later, in June 1686, the Scottish Parliament passed an Act in favour of the geographer, John Adair, for `surveying the Kingdome of Scotland and navigating the coasts and isles thereof'. Such a survey was felt to be 'necessary for navigation, and may prevent severall shipwraks; the want of such exact maps haveing occasioned great losses in tyme past'.
Both men had proved their worth for this task — Collins was an experienced naval officer who had prepared harbour sketches and other draughts, while Adair was a proficient land surveyor who had already produced a hydrographical chart of the Firth of Forth (1683) — but the duplication of effort remains a mystery. According to Collins2, he surveyed the east coast of Scotland from Edinburgh to the Orkneys and Shetlands in 1685 and yet Adair was to start his own survey of the Scottish coasts just a year later. The first result of this, his map of the 'Turnings of the Forth', was engraved by Herman Moll in 1688. Certainly, Adair had been frustrated by financial and business difficulties in the production of his land maps. Scotland was still too poor a country for enough subscribers to support a series of county maps and the ability to finance the much-needed charts by the tunnage dues which he had been granted may have encouraged Adair to turn his attention to a maritime survey. It is difficult to believe that he was ignorant of Collins' work, but he may have assumed either that Collins had restricted his survey to England or that the published coverage would exclude Scotland. However, this seems highly improbable since Adair's work post-dates Collins' Scottish surveys by at least a year. It is rather more likely that the duplication of effort is due to the generally inferior quality of Collins' work. Such a belief calls for a careful comparison of the details of the two sets of charts and it is hoped to investigate these differences in a future study.
By 1689, Collins had completed his surveys, having produced 120 manuscript draughts covering the whole of the English coast, the east of Scotland and the chief harbours of Ireland. Undoubtedly, the support of the Crown, the Admiralty and Trinity House aided his progress. By comparison with Adair's struggle, Collins appears to have worked rapidly and yet, as far as can be discovered, he relied on local knowledge in only one instance, when a Mr. Mar surveyed part of the coast between therein . . . In order to my better judging of Collings's new work, enquire after his sobriety and method of application in performing of the same from some that were with him';. Despite the strictures, this was the first systematic coastal survey and atlas printed in the British Isles and its popularity led to continued reappearances for almost a century with very little change to the contents.
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COPYRIGHT March 1985 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
THE MAPPING OF SCOTLAND has a markedly different history from that of its southern neighbour. Often later in development, Scottish maps have their own native style based on the work of local cartographers. However, during the late seventeenth century, two men from either side of the border, Greenvile Collins and John Adair, made parallel efforts to produce sea charts of the east coast of Scotland. This is all the more surprising .as this was a time of comparative recession in home map-making and the copying of surveys was quite common. In both cases, the atlases of engraved sea charts proved to be their only published volume of work. Yet, whereas Collins is celebrated as a coastal surveyor and his Coasting Pilot (1693) reappeared no less than twenty times up to 1792, Adair has tended to be overshadowed by his contemporaries and his Description of the Sea-Coast and Islands of Scotland is a very rare work, appearing in only one edition in 1703.
Up until this time, British navigators had relied heavily on Dutch charts, even in home waters. Dutch fishing fleets visited the coastal grounds regularly and sea captains fed geographical information back to the large printing houses in Amsterdam. Their domination of the map trade was barely dented by John Seller's attempt to pass off reworked Dutch plates as a home-based marine atlas. The naval engagements of the Dutch wars only served to emphasise still further the lack of accurate British surveys. In England, the realisation of this need led to Charles II appointing Captain Greenvile Collins, a commander in the Royal Navy, to make a survey of the sea coast of the Kingdom by measuring all the sea coast with a chain and taking all the bearings of the headlands with their exact latitude/ in 1681. Five years later, in June 1686, the Scottish Parliament passed an Act in favour of the geographer, John Adair, for `surveying the Kingdome of Scotland and navigating the coasts and isles thereof'. Such a survey was felt to be 'necessary for navigation, and may prevent severall shipwraks; the want of such exact maps haveing occasioned great losses in tyme past'.
Both men had proved their worth for this task — Collins was an experienced naval officer who had prepared harbour sketches and other draughts, while Adair was a proficient land surveyor who had already produced a hydrographical chart of the Firth of Forth (1683) — but the duplication of effort remains a mystery. According to Collins2, he surveyed the east coast of Scotland from Edinburgh to the Orkneys and Shetlands in 1685 and yet Adair was to start his own survey of the Scottish coasts just a year later. The first result of this, his map of the 'Turnings of the Forth', was engraved by Herman Moll in 1688. Certainly, Adair had been frustrated by financial and business difficulties in the production of his land maps. Scotland was still too poor a country for enough subscribers to support a series of county maps and the ability to finance the much-needed charts by the tunnage dues which he had been granted may have encouraged Adair to turn his attention to a maritime survey. It is difficult to believe that he was ignorant of Collins' work, but he may have assumed either that Collins had restricted his survey to England or that the published coverage would exclude Scotland. However, this seems highly improbable since Adair's work post-dates Collins' Scottish surveys by at least a year. It is rather more likely that the duplication of effort is due to the generally inferior quality of Collins' work. Such a belief calls for a careful comparison of the details of the two sets of charts and it is hoped to investigate these differences in a future study.
By 1689, Collins had completed his surveys, having produced 120 manuscript draughts covering the whole of the English coast, the east of Scotland and the chief harbours of Ireland. Undoubtedly, the support of the Crown, the Admiralty and Trinity House aided his progress. By comparison with Adair's struggle, Collins appears to have worked rapidly and yet, as far as can be discovered, he relied on local knowledge in only one instance, when a Mr. Mar surveyed part of the coast between therein . . . In order to my better judging of Collings's new work, enquire after his sobriety and method of application in performing of the same from some that were with him';. Despite the strictures, this was the first systematic coastal survey and atlas printed in the British Isles and its popularity led to continued reappearances for almost a century with very little change to the contents.
Read Full Article >>
[Acrobat Reader required]
COPYRIGHT March 1985 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
