Description

James LANGLEY.

[2 Mss. Maps on a Single Sheet:] “Gros Islet Bay St. Lucia.” [and] “Prince Ruperts Bay Dominica.”

Manuscript, [1818].

 

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.

 

1. [Upper Map:]

“Gros Islet Bay St. Lucia.”

Nealtine measurements: 24 x 39.5 cm.

 

St. Lucia was an island long disputed between France and Britain and was a major scene of conflict during the French Revolutionary War.  It finally came under enduring British rule in 1803.

 

Gros Islet is an ultra-strategically located bay near the northern tip of St. Lucia, guarding the passage to Martinique, which was located only 34 km across the St. Lucia Channel.  The French founded a Roman Catholic parish by the bay in 1749.  In 1778, during the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), Gros Islet Bay became a major naval base, established by the famed Admiral George Rodney.  In 1780, Rodney ordered the construction of Fort Rodney on Pigeon Island and used the bay as the embarkation point of his fleet headed towards the Battle of the Saints (April 9-12, 1782), whereupon the British won a great victory over the French that secured their dominance over the Caribbean.  It remained a key revictualling place for British forces throughout and after the Napoleonic Wars, and this status necessitated James Langley to make a new and accurate survey of the bay in 1818.

 

The present chart shows Gros Islet Bay to be framed by Dark Bluff Pt., on the north, and by three hills to the south, while Pigeon Island guards the northern approaches.  Numerous bathymetric soundings line the bay, along with notes and the qualities of the sea floor.

 

On Pigeon Island appears the citadel of Fort Rodney (which would remain garrisoned until 1901), while along the shores appears “Gros Islet” village and the “Sugar Works” of a plantation, while further down there is marked a “Water place” (for acquiring fresh water for ships) and “Negro Houses” (huts for slaves).

 

Rather unusually, there are 3 other examples of the manuscript map survive today, and they are as follows:

 

1.

“Gros Islet Bay St. Lucia.”

Coloured Mss., 1818.

57 x 50 cm

U.K. Hydrographic Office: SVY/A/386

 

2.

“A Survey of Gros Islet Bay in the Island of St Lucia, 1818… By Mr James Langley, Master. Communicated by Captain William Elliot. 1818”.

Coloured Mss., 1818.

33 x 25 cm.

U.K. Hydrographic Office: SVY/A/200

 

3.

[Gros Islet Bay, St. Lucia] / “…surveyed by me the 20 July 1817 Wm. Elliott, Captain H.M. Ship Scamander”.

Mss., [1817-8].

46 x 57 cm.

John Carter Brown: Cabinet Es817 1 Ms.

 

Notably, the chart was published as A Survey of Gros Islet Bay in the Island of St. Lucia, by J. Langley (London: Hydrographic Office, 1820), which is today a very rare work (see: British Library: Maps SEC.8.(500.). and R.V. Tooley, ‘The Printed Maps of St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent’, Map Collectors’ Circle, Ninth Volume, no. 81 (1972), p. 154).

 

References: Present Example of the Mss. seemingly unrecorded. 

 

2. [Lower Map:]

“Prince Ruperts Bay Dominica.”

Neatline measurements: 29 x 39.5 cm.

 

Dominica, while strategically located between the valuable French sugar islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, was, due to its extremely rugged terrain, considered difficult to settle by Europeans.  It was not until 1715 that French colonists established a permanent foothold on the island.

 

Dominica was captured by the British in 1761, and it became a British colony in 1763.  However, as with Grenada, the British maintained poor relations with the largely French and Creole-speaking population, especially the gens de couleur libres (‘free people of colour’).  France temporarily regained Dominica from 1778 to 1783, and attacked the island in 1785 and 1805, failing both times.

 

Prince Rupert’s Bay (known traditionally as Grand Anse) is the largest best natural harbour on the west side of Dominica, and thus held great strategic value.  It was home to Grand Anse town (renamed Portsmouth by the British), which served as the capital of Dominica until 1760.  The British used the bay as an important anchorage to monitor French activities in nearby Guadeloupe, and established Fort Shirley on the headland that guarded the northern end of the bay.

 

Yet, Prince Rupert’s Bay was in an unstable area.  In 1802, enslaved African soldiers stationed at Fort Shirley revolted, and while they were supressed, the situation remained tense.  In 1814, a group of slaves escaped from the nearby Hillsborough Plantation, and while they were caught, this event caused a great deal of commotion.

 

It was in this context that the HMS Scamander arrived at Price Rupert’s Bay in the spring of 1818.  James Langley conducted the present survey, which shows the bay the be a broad crescent, with Prince Rupert’s Buff on the north, and Bollas Hd. to the south.  The town of Portsmouth appears at the head of the bay, prominently marked by a large tree (used by ships as a navigational aide), near the banks of a “River of Excellent Water”, while down the coast is “Negro Houses” (slaves’ quarters).  The bay is marked with lines of bathymetric soundings emanating from the anchorage of the HMS Scamander, while notes appear as to the nature of the seafloor and the shoreline.  Fort Shirley, while not labelled, appears on the hill in the middle of the peninsula at the top of the bay.

 

We are aware of 2 other surviving examples of the manuscript map, which are as follows:

 

1.

“Prince Ruperts Bay in Island of Dominica… Surveyed by Mr James Langley. Master, His Majesty’s Ship Scamander, May 1818”.

Coloured Mss., 1818.

56 x 74 cm

U.K. Hydrographic Office:  SVY/A/Q92

 

2.

An example of the chart appears sketched on the verso of the chart “English Harbour & Freeman’s Bay on the island of Antigua as surveyed by Mr. James Langley, Master of H.M. Ship Scamander in May 1818…” (John Carter Brown Library: Cabinet Er818 1 Ms.).

 

Importantly, the chart was published as A Survey of Prince Rupert’s Bay in the Island of Dominico by Mr James Langley Master R.N. 1818. Communicated by Capt. Wm. Elliott C.B. R.N. (London: Hydrographic Office, 1820), and which is today very rare (see British Library: Maps SEC.8.(493.). and R.V. Tooley, ‘The printed maps of Dominica and Grenada’, Map Collectors’ Circle, Ninth Volume, Seventh Volume, no. 62 (1970), p. 14).

 

References: Present Example of the Mss. seemingly unrecorded.