notes Knight 1797

	Research Notes Map Group KNIGHT 1797

Knight 1797
	Chart, Coast of Sussex and Hampshire from Selsey to Christ Church, scale about 1.5 nautical miles to 1 inch, by Captain John Knight RN, published by William Faden, Charing Cross, London, 1797.
	These notes are taken from a chart in the Map Collection of Hampshire CC Museums Service, item HMCMS:BWM635.
	The map includes from Christchurch Bay, Dorset to Selsey, West Sussex, and the north coast of the Isle of Wight.The notes are strongly biased towards Hampshire interest.
	MAP FEATURES - GENERAL & LAND
	MAP FEATURES - SEA
	ITEMS in the Collection

MAP FEATURES	- GENERAL & LAND
title map maker	Printed upper left is:- THE Coast OF SUSSEX AND HAMPSHIRE from SELSEY to CHRIST CHURCH; including Portsmouth Harbour, the Road of Spithead, Southampton River and the Passages by the West End of the ISLE of WIGHT. Surveyed by CAPT. JOHN KNIGHT R.N. Published by W. Faden, Geographer to His Majesty and to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, Charing Cross: November 1st. 1797. George II was king at the time, his son became George IV.
orientation north point up is N magnetic variation	Printed lower right (with the scale line) are a pair of north points. There is a vertical line with the right half of a fleur de lys marking North, labelled:- Meridian and a line 23 1/4 degrees West of North labelled:- Magnetic North. The chart is printed with 'true' north at the top of the sheet.
scale line scale	Printed lower right (with the north point) is a:- Scale of 2 Leagues chequered and labelled in:- Miles The 6 nautical miles = 125.7 mm gives a scale 1 to 88500 taking the length of a nautical mile at 50d 43m N as 6082.93 ft. The chart scale is roughly:- 1 to 89000 ? 1 nautical mile to 1 inch (1.5 miles to 1 inch)
lat and long scales	The chart does not have scales of latitude or longitude, but printed upper right is:- REMARKS Longitude of the Royal Academy at Portsmouth 1[d]. 6[m]. 15[s]. West from Greenwich Latitude ... Do. ... at Do. ... 50.48.00 North
coast line coast appearance lighthouses harbours	The coast line is basically a thin line. In places the line becomes cliffs; low cliffs west of Hurst:- more dramatic cliffs at:- CULVER CLIFF on the Isle of Wight. To landward of the coast line there might be hill hachuring to suggest landform. At the end of Hurst Spit are three dots, buildings, and a label:- Light H. Some harbours are labelled, eg:- PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR Langston Harb. Channels are shown through the shallows in Portsmouth Harbour.
coastal defence castles fortifications	Some of the coastal defences of Hampshire are noticed, some labelled:- Hurst Cas. [dot for a building] Calshot Cas. [small square] Fort Monckton [rectangle with 4 corner bastions?] [polygonal fortifications at Gosport] [polygonal fortifications at RN dockyard] [polygonal fortifications at Portsmouth] South Sea Castle [small ?square] [polygonal fortifications at Fort Cumberland?] There are other buildings which may be other fortifications.
rivers	Rivers are only indicated by their estuaries, some labelled:- Beaulieu R. Lymington Creek [Lymington River] Southampton River [Southampton Water=Test+Itchen]
relief hill hachuring windmills	Hill hachuring is used to suggest the landform immediately behind the coast line. Other relief is not shown, except:- PORTS DOWN drawn behind Portsmouth Harbour. A few trees suggest woodland; and a post mill shows a windmill.
settlements	Only a few coastal places are noticed on the chart. LYMINGTON is drawn by shaded blocks for buildings along the High Street. Gosport PORTSMOUTH are shaded areas within their fortifications.
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MAP FEATURES	- SEA
sea plain depth soundings sandbanks buoys anchorages tides leading lines sea marks wrecks	This is a chart and it is to be expected that the sea is full of detail. The sea area is plain, some areas are labelled, eg:- ENGLISH CHANNEL CHRIST CHURCH BAY Southampton River [Southampton Water] Stokes Bay SPITHEAD The sea areas are labelled with depth soundings, presumed to be in fathoms. Some of the figures are in lines suggesting that a small boat was taken from side to side of the seaway taking soundings as she went. Depths have been measured over the Solent and into the entrances of some harbours. Sandbanks and foreshore shallows are shown by dotted areas. Some are labelled, eg:- Bramble Shingles Long Middle Spit Sand Over these shallows the depth might be given in feet; for instance over the Shingles:- 2 feet and over the Bramble, south west to north east:- 8 feet / 6 feet / 10 feet / 1 the last figure being a fathom. These depths are presumably at low water - but neaps or springs? Buoys are drawn, and described or named, on many of the sandbanks and some foreshore areas. For example, on the south west end of the Bramble is a can with a flag labelled:- Red On the south east tip of Spit Sand is:- Spit Buoy And the west and south edges of the Horse and Dean Sands, which are not named, has a series of buoys generally labelled:- Black Buoys and named in turn:- Horse Dean Elbow Dean 4th. Buoy Outer Buoy Anchorages are shown by a fisherman's anchor, for examples, south of Spit Sand at Spithead, and around the Isle of Wight shore. Arrows are used to mark tidal streams around the Shingles in the Needles and North Channels. There do not appear to be rates of flow attached to the arrows. Two dotted lines drawn in these two channels are presumably the two western approach routes for shipping in and out of the Solent. A number of leading lines are drawn, aligned with various headlands and land features, to show how a ship might avoid shallows. Some of the leading lines are just labelled:- Mark Two leading lines and the dotted route for the western approach to the Solent are labelled:- Needles Channel Way In this direction the Light appears from the Westward The light being the lighthouse on Hurst Spit. Posts are drawn marking the channel in some creeks. For example:- Lymington Creek has 4 posts, the outermost on the west labelled:- Jack in the Basket and the entrance to:- Beaulieu R. has 3 posts. Three wrecks are noticed on the chart. A conical buoy marks the:- Roy. George HMS Royal George, flagship of Admiral Kempenfelt, capsized with heavy loss of life, during repairs to her hull, 1782, and lay in 14 fathoms. Nearby a smaller conical buoy marks:- Edgar HMS Edgar, 3rd rate ship with 70 guns, Captain George Paddon, blew up and sank, 15 October 1711. Gunpowder had been moved between magazines during the morning; accidental spillage might have been the cause. And on the edge of the Horse and Dean sands, off Southsea Castle, is:- Boynes Wreck HMS Boyne, 2nd rate ship of 98 guns, Captain George Gray, flagship of Admiral Sir John Jervis, caught fire in the admiral's cabin about 11.30 am, 1 May 1795. The fire got out of control; when the cable burnt through she drifted onto the edge of Horse Sand, where she blew up about 5.00 pm.
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ITEMS	in HMCMS Map Collection (scanned item in bold)
	HMCMS:BWM635 -- chart
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