Abstract

PINZON RIOS, Guadalupe. The Coasts of New Spain in the English Nautical Cartography: from the Wagoner of Basil Ringrose to the Atlas of William Hack. Invest. Geog [online]. 2018, n.95. ISSN 2448-7279.  https://doi.org/10.14350/rig.59537.

The objective of this work is to study the diary written by Basil Ringrose and the atlas by William Hack as examples of the ways in which the Pacific area was represented in ever-increasing detail in English maps drawn in the second half of the 17th century, and the rationale for it. This process led to the inclusion of the South Sea in works based on maps (i.e. atlases) elaborated within the framework of the maritime expansion of Great Britain at that time. Specifically, this work seeks to determine how the American coasts of New Spain were drawn in these maps, as objects of growing interest by the British, which led to a steady improvement of the information in them.

To note, after the occupation of Jamaica by England (1655-1670), the English journeys across the Caribbean proliferated, even reaching as far as the Pacific Ocean, where various voyages were conducted. These resulted in the drafting of new maps, which not only recorded the routes followed by navigators, but also provided information on the Pacific Ocean. It is for this reason that the English nautical cartography was restructured and expanded in parallel with expeditions; specifically, the maps for the Pacific region were used to illustrate the maritime progress by the English in these areas and provide other navigators with useful information for subsequent voyages. Such information was directly obtained through the observations of sailors, but also indirectly from foreign records. This transformation process was evidenced through the increase of cartographers (several belonging to the Thames School) dedicated to drafting this new nautical cartography. The navigation diary of Basil Ringrose and the atlas elaborated by William Hack are clear examples of this activity. Ringrose participated in a journey during which a Peruvian ship was captured, and a book of maps that depicted the American coastline (1681) was found in it; he was able to copy and translate these maps, in addition to including his own annotations. The Peruvian maps and Ringrose’s own notes were subsequently revised, copied and reinterpreted by the cartographer William Hack, who developed a maritime atlas of the Pacific zone following a royal order. Ringrose’s diary was not published at the time, while Hack’s had several editions that were enriched gradually with new information provided by other navigators. The relevance of these as works that compiled maps (i.e. Atlases) lies in that both included geographic charts representing a graphical description of the territories exposed from a structure involving an intentionality put forward by these authors or their editors. The work by Ringrose and Hack is structured according to the maps contained in them and aimed to summarize the geographic information available for the Pacific area, in addition to providing an account of the English navigations. The drawings of the American coastline of New Spain reflect the growing interest on this as a potential landing and provisioning zone when attempting to capture Manila vessels, so that the descriptions of these coasts improved with time, highlighting their advantages and features. Undoubtedly, the works of Ringrose and Hack were key elements of the English naval and cartographic restructuring of the 17th century, with the New Spain Pacific coastline as one of the best-depicted maritime regions.

Keywords : Maps; Atlases; Diaries of Navigation; English; Pacific; Ringrose; Hack.

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