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Halifax Harbour
Des Barres, Joseph F. W...
Halifax Harbour
1779
13084.000
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Author
Des Barres, Joseph F. W.
Full Title
Halifax Harbour. Survey'd & publish'd according to Act of Parliament by J.F.W. Des Barres Esqr., Jany. 30, 1779.
List No
13084.000
Note
Uncolored Nautical chart, with hand colored inset views of Entrance to Halifax Harbor. Bathymetry shown by soundings. Relief shown by shading. Prime meridian is Greenwich. Text block provides sailing directions. Originally issued in 3 sheets. In upper right: Pl. 20. In: Des Barres, Joseph F.W. The Atlantic Neptune, published for the use of the Royal Navy of Great Britain. London, 1774-1781. Vol. 1, p. 30. Notes on the map from Alexander Johnson: "This is one of the finest and most important sea charts in both the history of Canada and the American Revolutionary War era. It is a gargantuan map of Halifax Harbour, the North American headquarters of Britain’s Royal Navy, printed during the height of the American Revolutionary War (1775-83). It is based upon the mapping of the eccentric genius J.F.W. Des Barres, a Swiss-born cartographer who conducted advanced trigonometric surveys of all of the coasts of Peninsular Nova Scotia between 1764 and 1770, of which his charting of Halifax Harbour was his signature achievement. The present chart, printed on three enormous copper plates, was beautifully designed and printed under Des Barres’ direct supervision as part of his epic sea atlas of North American waters, The Atlantic Neptune (printed in various collations and formats, London, 1777-84). Des Barres charts are peerless works in that they are both scientifically accurate, yet also highly decorative, embellished with the technically demanding technique of aquatint and magnificent artistic flourishes, such as large profile views. Des Barres chart of Halifax Harbour is one of his largest and most artistically virtuous works, in addition to its value as the era’s finest navigational aid to the one of the continent’s key ports. The main chart embraces all of Halifax Harbour, taken from a roughly westward orientated perspective, including the Bedford Basin, the Narrows, the North West Arm and the adjacent havens of Sambro Harbour, Catch Harbour and Rocky Inlet. The city of Halifax (shaded in red) appears in the centre-right, with the grid of its streets, numerous fortifications and the ‘Dock Yard’, the all-important facility that was the epicentre of the Royal Navy’s operations in the western Atlantic. Copious bathymetric soundings dot the harbour floor, extending well out into the open sea, while the coastlines are precisely delineated, making this by far the most accurate (and the largest) sea chart of Halifax Harbour made during the 18th Century. The land area is printed by the lovely, frosty aquatint method, one of the most elegant, yet technically demanding, printing methods, usually reserved for fine art pieces and seldom employed for maps. On the lower-right side of the map is a large roundel containing detailed sailing directions for navigating the harbour, while above and to the right, is a beautiful view of the Sambro Island Lighthouse, which marks the gateway to the harbour and, constructed in 1759, still survives to this day, making it the oldest operational lighthouse in North America. The large register that makes up the lower part of the composition features a profile view of the entrance of the harbour from the vantage point of just off Chebucto Head. The scene of varied topography is shown teeming with tall ships and bathed in gorgeous original wash colours. Des Barres had the unusual habit of continually modifying his plates as he published his works, resulting in many of his charts appearing in numerous states and variants, many of which are seemingly unrecorded. His chart of Halifax Harbour, one of his most important works, was impatiently demanded by the Admiralty Board, and so was first issued bearing the imprint date of ‘January 30, 1776’, and placed within the first volume of The Atlantic Neptune. The Henry Newton Stevens Collection, at the National Maritime Museum (Greenwich), the most comprehensive assemblage of Des Barres charts, records 11 states and variants of the chart. Des Barres added some additional details to his 1776 versions, reissuing the chart with the imprint date of ‘January 30, 1779’, as evident on the present example. While not precisely the same, the present example of the chart bears some similarities to both the Stevens Collection Variants ‘45F’ and ‘45F*’. A third, and final, revision of the chart was issued bearing the date ‘January 30, 1781’. Des Barres’ chart was the ultimate authority for navigating Halifax Harbour for many years and served as the basis for the work of many other mapmakers. Halifax: Epicentre of the Royal Navy during Three Great American Wars Halifax is considered by professional mariners to possess one of the finest natural harbours in the world. Not only is it large (the Bedford Basin can easily host even the greatest flotilla), it is deep, free of major obstacles, entirely protects vessels from oceanic swells, and is close to the main Trans-Atlantic shipping lanes. In 1749, the British founded the purpose-built city of Halifax to act a counterweight to the French fortress of Louisburg, on nearby Cape Breton Island. Halifax was soon selected as the capital of Nova Scotia, and upon the reduction of Louisburg in 1758, it became the Headquarters of the Royal Navy’s North American Squadron. For the remainder of the Seven Years’ War (1756-63), Halifax played a central role in the conflict, outfitting victorious military expeditions to Canada and the West Indies. The city grew rapidly, and the Naval Dock Yard became the finest and best equipped in the Americas. During the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), Nova Scotia remained loyal to the empire, and Halifax was the staging ground for most of the major naval expeditions in the conflict, including the successful British invasion of New York (1776), the largest such undertaking in the history of the Americas. While, as we all know, the overall war was not a success for Britain, Halifax prospered, as vast resources flowed into the city, including prize money won by privateers who preyed upon American shipping. Meanwhile, Loyalist refugees swelled its population. While many of the Loyalists were almost destitute and initially required assistance, some were amongst New England’s wealthiest grandees, individuals who became pillars of business and government in post-war Nova Scotia. Throughout the war, Des Barres’ chart would have been an indispensable aid for navigation, and many copies are recorded as having been shipped from Des Barres’s London workshop to Halifax, via Portsmouth. Halifax remained the headquarters of the Royal Navy’s North American Squadron through the War of 1812 (1812-4), when British naval vessels and privateers enjoyed great success against the Americans, adding further wealth to the city. However, a bit of the bloom came off the rose in 1818, when Halifax was compelled to share its status with Bermuda; Halifax henceforth served as the ‘Summer HQ’ of the Navy, while Bermuda acted s the ‘Winter HQ’ (evidently the Admirals did not like Nova Scotian winters!). Nevertheless, Halifax remained a major port of commerce and military affairs, a status it enjoys to this day. J.F.W. Des Barres & The Atlantic Neptune Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres (1721 – 1824) was a larger-than-life figure who had a transformative impact upon the Canadian Maritimes. He was born in Basel, Switzerland, and studied mathematics at that city’s university under the famous Bernoulli brothers, Jean and Daniel. An ambitious and adventurous spirit, who saw few opportunities in his staid native land, he immigrated to Britain. There he continued his studies at the newly founded Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, where he was trained in surveying. In 1756, he enlisted in the Royal American Regiment, which was largely composed of well-educated Continental European soldiers, and left for Canada to fight in the Seven Years’ War (1756-63). While in Canada, Des Barres participated in the Siege of Louisbourg (1758) and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (1759), where the British took Quebec City. In 1760, he was deployed to Halifax to plan the enlargement of the city’s defences and naval yard. In 1762, he worked on surveys in Newfoundland with the young James Cook, the legendary future Pacific explorer. Following the end of the war, Britain was left in possession of virtually all Eastern North America. Very little of this vast empire had been mapped, either hydrographically or topographically, and Whitehall aimed to remedy the situation. In 1764, the Board of Trade organized the General Survey of British North America, which aimed to map the coastal areas of the Atlantic Seaboard by systematic scientific standards. Samuel Holland was charged with mapping the northern regions (Atlantic Canada and New England) and William Gerard de Brahm was tasked with mapping Florida. Peninsular Nova Scotia was excluded for this remit, owing to its unique circumstance as being home to Halifax, the headquarters of the Royal Navy in North America. The Admiralty would thus be tasked with mapping Peninsular Nova Scotia. In 1764, Des Barres was appointed as the Admiralty surveyor for Peninsular Nova Scotia. He was commissioned with making a systematic trigonometric survey of the entire coastline of the peninsula. While geographically a small region, this was a Herculean task, as the coastlines were amongst the most indented and complicated in the world, often beset by fog and storms. From 1764 to 1770, Des Barres led his teams, often against great hardship and danger, to produce a series of remarkably precise sea charts, that when combined would form the first scientific general map of the coasts of Peninsular Nova Scotia. Important to the present work, Des Barres and his men also took the time to sketch the landscape they encountered, creating many of the finest and most historically important 18th Century images of Nova Scotia. In 1770, Des Barres moved to London, where he was charged by the Admiralty with creating the first sea atlas of the British American colonies, The Atlantic Neptune. This would prove to be no ordinary project, as, in good part, due to Des Barres’ eccentricity, perfectionism and workaholism, it turned out to be perhaps the largest and one of the most artistically virtuous cartographic publishing projects ever undertaken. Des Barres not only employed his own charts but was given access to the best manuscripts charts in the Admiralty and Board of Trade archives, by the likes of Holland, Cook, De Brahm and others, creating a work of unrivalled scope and quality. The atlases’ essence was best captured by a contemporary French journal, which described The Atlantic Neptune as “one of the most remarkable products of human industry that had ever been given the world through the arts of printing and engraving”. Printed progressively over a span of a decade, from 1774 to 1784, at its largest extent it comprised five volumes including 115 maps and 146 views, many of which folded out to a massive size. The atlases’ coverage extended all the way down the Atlantic Seaboard and along the Gulf of Mexico, and the lower Mississippi Valley, plus the addition of charts of key harbours in Jamaica. Importantly, the atlases’ volumes did not have set collations, as they were custom ordered, so varied in size and content. The Atlantic Neptune assumed added importance upon the advent of the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), whereby Royal Navy commanders were in desperate need of working charts of North American harbours. It is thus striking that, under such stressful circumstances, Des Barres took the time to create charts and views of an utterly unique artistic élan. Titles were often formed by the most exquisite rococo typography, while many of the charts feature the beautiful medium of aquatint, most unusual in cartography. The views, such as the present work, but were likewise executed in the most virtuous aquatint, sometimes with lavish hand colour. This is remarkable, as the demanding aquatint medium had been introduced to Britain only very recently, making De Barres a pioneer. In both a quest for perfection and through a sense of urgency, Des Barres produced many of this charts and views in numerous states. It is remarkable that while admirals were pressuring Des Barres to finish charts of key harbours, such as Halifax, Boston, Newport and New York, he still stubbornly laboured over the decorative elements of the Neptune. While these actions may have frustrated flag officers, we are today the beneficiaries of his artistic talent and dedication. As for Des Barres, he returned to Canada in 1784, where he served variously as the Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton Island. Amazingly, he remained daily active, in perfect health, until he passed away at the age of 102! References: Cf. [Citing Similar Variants of the Chart:] Cf. National Maritime Museum (Greenwich): HNS45F and HNS45F*; Stephen J. Hornsby, Surveyors of Empire: Samuel Holland, J.F.W. Des Barres and the Making of The Atlantic Neptune (Montreal, 2011), note reference to chart p. 220; Rodney Shirley, Maps in the Atlases of the British Library, vol. 2, M.DES-1c, no. 20 and M.DES-1f, no. 22; For an overview of British coastal surveying in North America during the era in question, see: Alexander Johnson, The First Mapping of America: The General Survey of British North America, 1765 – 1775 (London: I.B. Tauris, 2017)."
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