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Description

Pierre Chassereau's Rare Plan of Cartagena, with Details of The French Raid on Cartagena in 1697 and Foreshadowing The English Attack in 1741

Rare early plan of Cartagena by Pierre Chassereau, published by Thomas Bowles in London on April 21, 1740.

Chassereau's Plan provides 2 different time views of Cartagena. The first is a detailed accounting of the French Raid in May 1697. Second, Chassereau notes the location of new forts added by the French following the French Raid in 1697 and includes notes on what is necessary for a successful future assault on Cartagena, noting for example:

  • "In a design upon Cartagena Fort Bocachica must first be taken & secured"
  • "Fort St. Cruz This Fort must be taken before an Enemy can bring up his ships to canonade ye Town"
  • A note at the far right also warns that the sea is too rough for landing purposes to the north of the town on the coast

In the table below, there is a brief history of Cartagena given, from its settlement in 1532 till 1540, its sack by Francis Drake in 1585, and its bloody conquest by de Pointis, along with an assessment of the size of the French forces which undertook the 1697 raid, under the command of Baron De Pointis.

Chassereau's plan is one of the only surviving maps of Cartagena to show the French Raid, led by Baron De Pointis in 1697, with a smaller map showing the Tracks of the English Fleet and Spanish Galleons between Europe and Cartagena and the West Indies. A daring raid, the French attack on Cartagena proved wildly successful for both its French sponsor, Louix XIV, and its leader, and resulting decimating losses not only in Cartagena, but to the English and Dutch Fleets that gave chase to De Pointis following the raid.

The map is oriented with east at the top and is meticulously annotated with details of the battle. The positions of the French Fleet, landing parties, artillery and fortifications are shown.

The map's annotations outlining how to conduct a successful raid on Cartagena are quite remarkable and in fact, the following year, dated May 25, 1741, a revised version of the map was issued, converts the map from an historical object examining the De Pointis Raid of 1697 to a detailed description of Admiral Veron's attack on Cartagena in May 1741.

Chassereau was active from about 1730 to 1750 in London, although all of his maps are very rare on the market. His map would later be copied by a number of other map makers, including the Homann Heirs and Covens & Mortier.

Full Title:

A New and Correct Plan of the Harbour of Carthagena in America Seated 16 Degrees 26 Minutes lat. North and 75 Degrees 21 long. West of London, from a Draught brought to England by By Pet. Chassereau arch: 1740 Also several remarks concerning ye town of Carthagena & ye forts erected for its defence with a view of ye French ships commanded by De Pointes when he took the town in ye year 1697.

The French Raid of Cartagena

The French raid on Cartagena took place on May 6, 1697, as part of the War of the Grand Alliance (also called King William's War), a battle which pitted Louis XIV of France against an Alliance of Austria, The Holy Roman Empire, Holland, Spain and Britain. While primarily waged on the European continent, but included skirmishes in North America and the Caribbean.

At the end of the 17th Century, prior to the commencement of the war, the French Navy had been reduced largely to privateering, a form of state sanctioned piracy. Bernard Desjean, Baron de Pointis, active in the Caribbean from the beginning of the war, was able to convince King Louis XIV of France to let him try a daring attack on the richest city of the region, Cartagena, in present-day Colombia.

Louis XIV authorized seven large ships, three frigates, and some smaller vessels. De Pointis' fleet sailed from Brest on January 7, 1697, arriving in Santo Domingo on March 3, 1697. There, governor Jean du Casse agreed to reinforce De Pontis and in April, De Pointis' fleet with 1,200 soldiers and 650 buccaneers arrived in Cartagena.

The Spanish defense of Cartagena was limited, and De Pointis conquered both fortresses which defended Cartagena relatively easily, losing only sixty men. From May 6 to May 24, French plundered the city, accumulating loot valued at ten to twenty million livres.

De Pointis then set sail directly for France, cheating his buccaneer allies of their promised share of the loot. Outraged, the buccaneers returned and struck Cartagena a second time.

During his return voyage to France, De Pointis managed to avoid the English Admiral John Nevell, whose squadron had been diverted from Cadiz, Spain, to pursue De Pointis. After 3 days of pursuit, Nevell captured only a single ship, which was a hospital ship infested with yellow fever. The disease spread quickly through the English and Dutch fleets killing 1,300 English sailors, six captains, and Admiral Nevell. The Dutch were similarly impacted, with only one captain in the Dutch fleet surviving.

The French Fleet faired better, and De Pointis delivered 2 Million livres to Louis XIV, leaving De Pointis with a massive fortune. The official account of the expedition was published the following year in Amsterdam and is entitled Relation de l'expédition de Carthagène faite par les François en 1697.

Rarity

The map is extremely rare. We note examples at the John Carter Brown Library, Clement Library (University of Michigan, Huntington Library and Osher Library, University of Southern Maine). In addition, Colonial Williamsburg holds a significantly revised second state of the map, with the removal of the text blocks and revised engagement details, now showing the 1741 siege by the English under Admiral Vernon, with 6 columns of text below).

Reference
Early Maps of Colombia. Map Collectors Circle #77, map 62