Guide to the Records of the Hydrographic Department (as filmed by the AJCP), 1787-1956

Request this via the Catalogue

Filter Online content

Some materials from this collection are available online.

Show only online content

Online content

View online

Summary

Collection number:

M2318-M2337, M2436-M2467

Creator:

The Hydrographic Office of the Admiralty (UK)

Extent:

397 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

Records relating to surveys carried out by Royal Navy warships and surveying vessels in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, including surveys of the coasts and adjoining islands and reefs of Australia and New Zealand. The bulk of the records filmed date from 1828 to 1855, when Sir Francis Beaufort was Hydrographer, but many later letters, reports and sailing directions have also been copied. Among the records filmed are extracts from journals and logs, remark books, sailing directions, reports, letters and survey data books and also selected items from the minute-books 1825-1856 and letter-books 1815-1855 of the Hydrographic Department.

There are letters and reports 1800-1909 from a large number of naval officers, and officials and scientists. Among the more prominent are Sir Francis Beaufort, E.F. Bedwell, Sir Edward Belcher, F.P. Blackwood, H.M. Denham, B. Drury, G.W. Earl, A. Field, R. FitzRoy, M. Flinders, Sir John Franklin, J. Gowland, W. Hobson, Sir Everard Home, Sir William Hooker, F. Howard, J.H. Kay, P.P. King, A.I. Krusenstern, J. MacGillivray, G. Richards, J.S. Roe, Sir James C. Ross, F.W. Sidney, O. Stanley, J.L. Stokes, J. Tuckey, W. Whewell, J. Wickham, T. Woore and C. Yule.

Biographical / Historical:

The Hydrographical Office of the Admiralty was created by an Order-in-Council of 12 August 1795 which stated that it would be responsible for 'the care of such charts, as are now in office, or may hereafter be deposited' and for 'collecting and compiling all information requisite for improving Navigation, for the guidance of the commanders of His Majesty's ships'. Alexander Dalrymple, who had been Hydrographer to the East India Company since 1779, was appointed the first Hydrographer.

In 1797 the Hydrographer's staff comprised an assistant, a draughtsman, three engravers and a printer. It remained a small office for much of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, under Dalrymple's successor, Thomas Hurd, a regular series of marine charts were produced and in 1814 the first surveying vessels were commissioned. The first Catalogue of Admiralty Charts appeared in 1825. In 1817 the Australian navigator Lieut. Phillip Parker King was supplied with instruments by the Hydrographic Office, but it was not until 1837 that an Australian surveyor, Capt. J.C. Wickham, was issued with detailed instructions by the Hydrographer. Meanwhile a notable Pacific survey had been carried out by Capt. F.W. Beechey in 1825-1828. The period 1836-1860 was the great age of Australian and Pacific surveys, with the voyages of Capt. J. Wickham and Cdr. J.L. Stokes in H.M.S. Beagle (1837-1843), Capt. E. Belcher in H.M.S. Sulphur (1836-1840), Capt. F. Blackwood in H.M.S. Fly (1842-1845), Capt. O. Stanley in H.M.S. Rattlesnake (1847-1850), Capt. J.L. Stokes in H.M.S. Acheron (1847-1851), Cdr. J.B. Drury in H.M.S. Pandora (1850-1856) and Capt. H.M. Denham in H.M.S. Herald (1852-1861)

In 1860, following agreements between the Admiralty and the five self-governing Australian colonies, colonial marine surveys were inaugurated. The Admiralty supplied the officers and instruments and published the charts, while the colonial governments provided the crews and paid colonial allowances. The Tasmanian Government soon abandoned its survey, but the colonial surveys continued in New South Wales until 1870, Victoria until 1878, and Queensland and South Australia until 1880. In 1872 the Western Australian Government made a similar agreement with the Admiralty and a survey was carried out for 15 years. After 1880 British survey vessels were again attached to the Australian Station with the object of charting the remote northern and western coasts, as well as New Guinea and the Pacific islands. This work came to an end in 1915. In 1921 the Royal Australian Navy Surveying Service took over the responsibility of surveying and charting Australian waters. Very little surveying was done in New Zealand after the 1850s until the establishment of the Royal New Zealand Navy Surveying Service in 1949.

Reference: G.C. Ingleton. Charting a continent. (Sydney, 1944)

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:: Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use:: Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.