A chart of the northern part of the Bay of Bengal …

Rare, large c.18th chart by Laurie and Whittle dated 12th May, 1794 published in the 1799 edition of Laurie and Whittle’s, The country trade East-India pilot.

The chart covers the northern part of the Bay of Bengal between Point Palmiras and the Aracan Shore: from the surveys made by Bartholomew Plaisted and John Ritchie, surveyors to the Honble. the East India Company, compared with those of Captain George Farmer, Captain Augustus Savage, and Benjamin Lacam: as also with the nautical observations of Captain John Hicks: to the Right Honorable the Commissioners for the controul of the British Affairs in the East Indies this chart is most respectfully dedicated by their most obedient and most humble servant Benjamin Lacam.

Drawing on the surveying work done in different regions by Benjamin Lacam (Hooghly River), John Ritchie (Bay of Bengal), Bartholomew Plaisted (Indian coast), George Farmer (Ramree Island and the coast of Bangladesh), and Augustus Savage (Indian coast), the chart extends from Cuttack (“Cattack or Kutteck”) in the state of Odisha across the Bay of Bengal, encompassing the southern coast of Bangladesh, to the Rakhine coast of Myanmar to Ramree Island (“Broken Islands”). Lacam has again drawn on the hydrographic work of John Ritchie of the East India Company. Soundings, maritime obstacles, winds, tides, and topographical features on the land are given in great detail. The inner part of the Hooghly delta has been redrawn in red ink on an inset. Ten buoys are identified by name via an alphabetical key. On the left-hand side of the cart four vertically-oriented views show the appearance of parts of the eastern shore from the water. In the upper centre, a table of astronomical observations list those made by sailors from 1761 to 1779, including those “deduced from the observations of the Capt.n Savage, and Mr Lacam in 1775”. The upper right-hand corner of the chart contains an inset of “Chittigong River Surveyed by Bartho[lomew] Plaisted in 1761”. The city of Chittigong, or Islamabad as it was known in the Mughal era, is situated along the banks of the the Karnaphuli River, a name it has held for centuries but which is not included on the chart. Crouch 161 /Art of the Chart, 2025.

From: Robert Laurie & James Whittle, The country trade East-India pilot, for the navigation of the East-Indies and oriental seas, within the limits of the East-India Company, extending from the Cape of Good Hope to China, New Holland and New Zeeland, with the Red Sea, Gulf of Persia, Bay of Bengal, and China Seas [cartographic material] / chiefly composed from actual surveys and draughts communicated by experienced officers of the East-India Company, and from the Neptune oriental by M. d’Apres de Mannevillette. Published London, 1799.