Description
James YOUNG, R.E., Land Surveyor; Captain William ELLIOTT, R.N. (1782 – 1838) and James LANGLEY, Master R.N., Hydrographers.
Manuscript, 1817.
Manuscript West Indies Sea Charts
Original Mss. West Indies Sea Charts from HMS Scamander (1817 – 1818)
The period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792 – 1815) marked a tumultuous time in the West Indies. French control over Saint-Domingue, its prize colony and the world’s greatest sugar producer, was overthrown by mulatto and black rebels during the Haitian Revolution (1791 – 1804). Elsewhere, several islands changed hands (even if temporarily), usually being seized by the British Royal Navy, while the (ultimately unrealized) threat of a massive French invasion hung over the scene.
In the wake of the wars, Britian was the uncontested dominant power in the West Indies, with its traditional rivals, France, Spain and the Netherlands, all laid low. Yet, Britain felt a sense of insecurity as the largely enslaved populations of the islands they controlled were inflamed, while support for the institution of slavery that buttressed the Caribbean economies was growing increasingly unpopular in Britain. Indeed, the cries of Abolitionists grew ever louder at Westminster by the day. The spectre of slave rebellions was ever-present, compelling the British military stations in the colonies to remain in a state of high alert.
This situation necessitated the execution of new scientific surveys of the key harbours and towns of the British West Indies, for the region was a dynamic environment, as the sea floors and coastlines were subject to change (due to currents and hurricanes), and the plans of cities and fortification were often altered by warfare, fires, new constriction (and, once again, hurricanes). As such, while many high-quality scientific maps and charts of these subjects had been made prior and during the wars, some of these were seen as being at least partially obsolete in the post-bellum period. The British navy and army needed precisely accurate cartography to be able to dispatch troops with lightning speed to secure key locations or to supress unrest.
Remarkable contributors to British scientific cartography in the West Indies during the post Napoleonic War era in the West Indies was Captain William Elliott and James Langley, Master, of the HMS Scamander, a Royal Navy ship that was stationed out of Barbados from 1816 to 1818. The HMS Scamander was ordered to patrolling the Windward and Leeward Islands, while Elliott and Langley (often in conjunction, but sometimes separately) were charged with surveying the key locations they visited.
Captain William Elliott (1782 – 1838) entered the Royal Navy in 1795, at only the age of 12, whereupon he was mentored by Admiral Sir Herbert Sawyer. He saw much action during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, notably at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801). He was trained both as a professional hydrographer and to become a commanding officer. He served extensively in the West Indies, acquiring great familiarity with many of the islands, and participated in the Invasion of Guadeloupe (1810). Elliot gained rapid promotion, making Captain in 1815. Shortly thereafter, Elliott was given command of the HMS Scamander, returning the Caribbean. After returning to England, he took a senior administrative role at the great naval yard at Portsmouth.
As for James Langley, we could not find much on his background, save that he was evidently professionally trained in hydrography and was appointed as the Master of HMS Scamander on March 3, 1815.
During their time on the HMS Scamander in the West Indies, Elliott and Langley conducted advanced scientific surveys of several key ports, anchorages and passages in Grenada, Dominica, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent and Trinidad & Tobago. Their resulting manuscript charts include a “Plan of the Town and Heights and A Survey of the Cay, Carenage and Lagoon of St. George’s Grenada” (c.1817-1818, surveyed in cooperation with James Young, R.E.) {see below }; “Gros Islet Bay St. Lucia” and “Prince Ruperts Bay Dominica” (1818) {see below}; “English Harbour & Freeman’s Bay on the Island of Antigua as surveyed by Mr. James Langley, Master of H.M. Ship Scamander” (1818); “The Narrows between the Islands of St Kitts and Nevis… Surveyed by Mr James Langley” (1818); “Plan of the Town and a Survey of the Bay of Kingston in the island of St. Vincent taken on board His Majesty’s Ship Scamander by William Elliott C. B. Captain and James Langley” (1817); “Grand Courland Bay, Tobago”, signed “Wm. Elliott Captain HM Ship Scamander” (c. 1818); [Cocos Bay and the Lebranche River, Trinidad], “Copied from the original of Captain Columbine R.N. Wm. Elliott C.B. Captain & James Langley Master of HM Ship Scamander” (c. 1818); and the [Nariva River, Trinidad] (1818). Many of the original examples of the manuscripts are today variously preserved at the archive of the UK Hydrographic Office, the John Carter Brown Library and the National Archives U.K.
Some of these manuscript charts were subsequently published by the Admiralty’s Hydrographic Office.
This extremely well-executed, large format map and sea chart of St. George’s is one of the most detailed and highest quality cartographic representations of the capital of Grenada from the slavery-plantation era. It embraces the entire environs of the town and features all the hydrographical details of it port and bay, as well as the topography and the extensive fortifications. It is the result of a collaboration, in November 1817, between Captain William Elliott and James Langley, who conducted the hydrographical survey of the bay, and James Young, of the Royal Engineers, who mapped the heights, town, carenage, and lagoon.
Grenada, the famed “spice island” of the West Indies, was first colonized by the French in 1649, but was ceded to Britian in 1763 (it remained in British hands save for the period between 1779 and 1783). Yet, the British had a difficult time forging good relations with the island’s French-creole planters and maintained weak oversight of its slaves. Fédon’s Rebellion (March 2, 1795 – June 19, 1796) was a slave revolt that engulfed the island, and while the British managed to suppress it, they continued to find the atmosphere on the island febrile.
These are the circumstance that greeted the crew of the HMS Scamander when they arrived at St. George’s in the autumn of 1817. As the town was potentially the only bulwark protecting the island from falling to another slave rebellion, it was an imperative for Elliott, Langley and James Young, of the Royal Engineers, to create a new and precisely accurate map of its maritime approaches, anchorages and its extensive fortifications.
The site of St. George’s, located on a fine natural harbour formed by the side of an old volcano, was first settled by the French in 1650 and was named Fort Royale. Its first major fortifications were built between 1705 and 1710 by Jean de Giou de Caylus, the esteemed Chief Engineer of the “Islands of America”.
After being taken over by the British, the town was renamed St. George’s, and its fortifications were extensively expanded.
The present map showcases all of St. George’s and its environs. The town, comprised of built-up blocks, occupies a peninsula in the centre, between the heights of Fort St. George and Hospital Heights. To the northeast of the town is the “Carenage”, the main sheltered anchorage, while beyond is the lagoon. To the north of town are the heights featuring “Government House’, while above are Mount Cardigan and Richmond Heights, which are topped by extensive fortifications. Fort Monckton guards the opposite side of the harbour.
The maritime spaces feature copious bathymetric soundings in feet, while marking the location of “Scamander’s Anchorage” in the bay.
The “References”, in the upper left corner, identifies the letters used to describe important features on the map, and are as follows:
- A. Fort Matthews
- B. Communication to Fort
C-D. Fort Lucas
- Fort Adolphus
- Redoubt proposed
- Proposed Battery
a,b,c. on Hospital Hill shews the three French stone Redoubts calculated for Musketry but two of which the East & Centre ones have had Mertons built during the insurrection [Fédon’s Rebellion], the one for 5 Guns, the other for two.
- shews the Palisades
- e. Wooden Blockhouse
- Stone Battery, formerly the Colony Hospital
- g. Cistern to contain 39470 Gallons of Water
- h. Soldiers Wooden Barrack to contain 80 Men
- i. Officers Wooden Barrack
- k. Old Stone Platform, two Guns on Barbette.
- l. Old Souterrains cut in the Rock
It was contemporary custom that several examples of such manuscript charts (tending to be of nearly identical content and size) would be made by the mapmakers, to be sent variously to the Admiralty Board, their patrons in the navy or government, and to be retained aboard vessel (while also guarding against loss). However, it is quite unusual for 4 manuscript examples of the same chart to survive to this day, as is the case with this chart of St. George’s.
Accordingly, we are aware of 3 other manuscript examples of the chart:
1.
“Plan of the Town and Heights and A Survey of the Bay, Carenage and Lagoon of St. George’s Grenada”. [accompanied by “Remarks St. George’s Bay Grenada”].
Coloured Mss., 1817.
92 x 63 cm.
John Carter Brown Library: Cabinet Es817 /2 Ms
Please see a link to images of this chart and the accompanying “Remarks”:
2.
“St Georges: Carenage and Lagoon with St Georges. By James Young,…”
Coloured Mss., [1817].
33 x 49 cm.
National Archives U.K.: ADM 352/243
3.
“Plan of the Town and Heights and a Survey of the Bay Carenage and Lagoon of St. George’s, Grenada”.
Coloured Mss., [1817].
98 x 64 cm.
U.K. Hydrographic Office: SVY/A/410
Importantly, the present manuscript, due to its importance and utility, was published as A Survey of the Carenage & Lagoon with the Heights and Town of St. George’s, Grenada. By Mr. J. Young (London: Hydrographic Office, 1821); a second edition was issued in 1853. All examples of this chart are today extremely rare, an example of the 1821 edition can be found at the British Library (Maps SEC.8.(504.)).
References: Present Example of the Mss. seemingly unrecorded.
