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Chart from a Storied Surveying Expedition of Africa

Striking sea chart of the southern tip of South Africa, from the surveys of the important Leven and Barracouta expedition of 1822 to 1826.

Besides the Beagle voyages, which included Charles Darwin, the Leven and Barracouta expedition, under the command of William Fitzwilliam Owen, was one of the most famous Admiralty surveying voyages of the 19th century.

The chart shows southern Africa below the 25th parallel. The coast is carefully delineated with coastal terrain, dangers to navigation, and sounding depths, although small stretches of shoreline remain conjectural and largely unexplored.

An inset in the lower right corner focuses on the area just north of Cape Town, including Saldanha Bay.

To the south is a zig-zag line with sounding depths. This is the track of the HMS Heron in 1821, under the command of Captain Jon Hamner, which had been sent in search of the Telemaque Shoals. These treacherous rocks had apparently been sighted in the late-eighteenth century. However, the Heron found no such obstruction, eliminating it from subsequent charts.

The surveying voyage of the Leven and the Barracouta

The voyage on which this chart was drawn is one of the great surveying expeditions of the early 19th century. The Leven and the Barracouta spent 1822-1826 recording the coasts of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula.  In all, they surveyed 30,000 nautical miles and created an imense number of charts,the sum of which was a monumental contribution to modern navigation in the regions.

The expedition was conducted was under the command of Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen. As a young officer, Owen served at the battle of the Glorious First of June (1794) and later commanded a fireship that was part of Nelson’s attempt to ignite the French navy at Boulogne. In 1803, in command of the Seaflower, Owen began hydrographic work while in the Maldives.

His next few posts were all in the Indian Ocean until, in 1815, he was sent to Ontario to survey the Great Lakes. His good work there recommended him for another surveying expedition, this time along the east coast of Africa. The Admiralty appointed him to the Leven, with the Barracouta also under his command, a ship in which he had previously served. The initial officer in charge on the Barracouta died in 1823; it was taken over by Owen’s first lieutenant, Alexander Vidal, who had served under Owen in the Great Lakes.

Over the course of four surveying seasons, the ships ranged the east coast of Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, Madagascar, and several Indian Ocean islands. The crews became very ill and half of each ship’s complement died. Owen also patrolled for slavers and set up an unsanctioned protectorate in Mombasa, where the Masrai rulers agreed to abolish slavery if Owen helped them to lift a siege by the Sultan of Oman. From 1825, the ships began a slow return to England, covering the west coasts of Africa as they went. 

In addition to the many Admiralty charts that resulted from the voyage, Owen wrote A Narrative of a Voyage to Explore the Shores of Arica, Arabia, and Madagascar (1833). A lieutenant serving on the same expedition, Thomas Boteler, also published an account of those years. He is also included in the list of officers who contributed to this chart.

Rarity

The chart is of the utmost rarity.  OCLC locates 2 examples (British Library and Connecticut State Library). 

We were unable to locate any examples at auction or in dealer catalogs going back more than 40 years.