[ASIA-SINGAPORE] China Sea – Singapore Road

Rare and important large scale detailed hydrographic chart of Singapore, based on the original surveys made by Commander Henry Percy Douglas.

The map extends from Government House in the north and south to the Sister Islands (Pulau Subar Laut & Pulau Subar Darat in Malay). Shown is Keppel Harbour which was named after Captain Henry Keppel who had a long association with Singapore until 1903. He had surveyed the new harbour of Singapore, which was formed from his plans and completed in 1886. The harbour was originally simply known as New Harbour but it was renamed Keppel Harbour by the Acting Governor, Sir James Alexander Swettenham, on 19 April 1900 when Admiral Keppel visited Singapore at the age of 92. The Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, (1864–1905), the forerunner of today’s Port of Singapore Authority, was founded by Guthrie and Company and Tan Kim Ching. The company was expropriated by the Government in 1905 who replaced it with the Tanjong Pagar Dock Board. In 1907 works were carried for the extension of Tank Road-Kranji Railway between Keppel Harbour and the town centre, the Telok Ayer reclamation and the construction of the Offshore Mole, a granite-rubble breakwater, which created a second entrance to Singapore Harbour. The map has numerous notes, a list of ‘Conspicuous Objects’.

This new survey of Singapore was first issued in 9th May 1911 this chart has been updated to October 1915 and without small corrections. The regular updating of the charts was to enable Commanders of ships, pilots and other mariners to safely navigate foreign waters and ports as new information of changes to sea depths, sand bars, wrecks or other any other information that could hinder passage became available. As updated charts were offered for sale, the older outdated charts in the hands of mariners were invariably discarded, subsequently making all British Admiralty issued hydrographic charts of the period very rare.

Extensive information is included, such as:

Shores uncovered at 2/3 ebb, swamps, jungles and scrubs, cultivated slopes and valleys, roads, rivers, reservoir, quarry, lunatic asylum, burial grounds, buildings, hill shading, islands, Meander Shoal, Palawan Reef, docks, coal sheds, Borneo Wharf, Jardine’s Wharf, P & O Company, New Harbour Dock Co, Docks No 1 and 2, place names, barracks and tin works on Pulo Brani, Hantu Island (Pulau Keppel), Mount Faber signal station, Mount Siloso (fort), Mount Imbeah, and Mount Serapong (fort) with summit heights in feet, St James, Belayer River, Chermin River, Bukit Chermin, Pasir Panjang Road, Alexandra Road, Keppel Road, Telok Blangah Road, and others.