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A rare and significant British nautical chart offering one of the earliest and most detailed renderings of the Raja Ampat region, an area of strategic, ecological, and navigational importance lying off the northwest coast of New Guinea. Centered on the Straits of New Guinea, this chart includes the islands of Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati, and Misool, here labeled “Waygeoo,” “Batenta,” “Salawat or Salywatty Island,” and “Gamen or Gealy Island.” These form the core of the Raja Ampat archipelago, now known for having the highest marine biodiversity on Earth.

Published by Laurie & Whittle in 1798, the map synthesizes British hydrographic knowledge from recent voyages in the region, most notably those of Captain Michael Hogan, commander of the Marquis Cornwallis in 1793–96, and Captain Robert Williams, who surveyed the same waters in 1797–98 aboard the Thames. These efforts were supported by Henry Moor, a skilled chartmaker who had joined Hogan's ship in Sydney in 1796 and would go on to publish independent works on the Moluccas and surrounding seas.

The chart is rich in practical navigational information: it traces the major exploratory and commercial tracks of Hogan, Williams, Dampier, Bougainville, Forrest, and others. It includes soundings, reef notations, compass roses, and anchorages. Notably, the inset at upper left records the track of the Marquis Cornwallis through the reef-strewn Dampier Strait, capturing the hazardous passage between the isles of Pigeon and Augusta. Along the coast of New Guinea, visual profiles of the shoreline are included to assist mariners in identifying landfalls.

The Raja Ampat region, so prominent in this chart, held deep strategic and economic value for the British East India Company. These straits served as vital passageways between the Banda and Molucca seas and the wider Pacific, enabling British ships to access the profitable spice and sandalwood trades while avoiding Dutch-controlled routes. The naming of features such as “Pitt’s or Sagewin Straits” and “Bougainville’s Passage” reflects the cumulative nature of Enlightenment hydrography, where charts were continually updated by new observations.

Captain Hogan’s role is particularly intriguing. After departing Cork in 1795 with Irish convicts bound for New South Wales, he uncovered a mutiny plot aboard the Marquis Cornwallis. The resulting disciplinary crackdown caused delays, but after disembarking in Sydney and completing repairs, Hogan turned his ship toward the East Indies, contributing substantial new hydrographic data along the way. Henry Moor, who had previously served aboard the Reliance, joined Hogan in Sydney and remained aboard through the charting of these straits. Moor later authored Sailing Directions to Accompany a New Chart of the Moluccas and Eastern Islands (1801), which may be considered a textual companion to this map.

Captain Williams’ complementary observations were published in James Huddart’s Oriental Navigator, further cementing the chart’s authority. Williams provided revised courses and updated soundings for several straits—critical for commercial navigation through this tightly clustered and perilous maritime zone.

This 1798 chart exemplifies a transition in British cartography from reliance on foreign sources to firsthand observation, driven by expanding imperial reach. For today’s collector, its detailed treatment of Raja Ampat—now a global focal point for conservation and diving—imbues the piece with both historical gravity and ecological relevance.