| Scale |
Scale approximately 1:20 000 000 ; mercator projection (W 40°--E 195°/N 55°--S 50°) |
| Physical description |
1 map : copper engraving ; 136 cm in diameter, on linen backing sheet 65 x 120 cm |
| Notes |
The chart has a pricked off and dated ship's track from Europe to the East Indies. |
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There is a note on the Use of the Triangular Scale at the lower left corner of the map. |
| Acquisition source |
Purchase; 20250107 WLB |
| Biography/history |
Penelope Steel remains an enigmatic figure in the history of British cartography. She was a pioneering woman who subtly but significantly influenced the mapping of early 19th-century England. Her life and career illustrate that women contributed to scientific fields in an era that did not readily acknowledge their roles. Penelope was born in 1768 in St Catherine's, Jamaica. She was the biracial daughter of a slave-owner, one of several recognised 'natural' children of Kingston merchant Scudamore Winde, who 'owned' 70 enslaved people. Her father died in 1775, leaving her and her brother the equivalent of £7 million in today's money. In Britain, she met barrister David Steel II, the son of David Steel I, who had a family business publishing charts and they married in 1786. Following David Steel I's death in 1799, her husband took over the family business, until his own untimely death in 1803 at the age of 39. His Will left Penelope 'the option of either selling the business or, if she preferred, continuing to run it in her own right'. Penelope chose to work in the business. She married William Mason in 1806, with whom she continued the business. By 1814, Penelope had entered into a business partnership with Stanley Goddard, who would become her third husband, and renamed the firm Steel & Goddard. By June 1819, Goddard and the firm were bankrupt, and J. W. (John William) Norie and Company acquired the Steel company's “case fixtures, stock in trade and copper plates”. -- from Susanna Fisher, The Makers of the Blueback Charts, A History of Imray Laurie Norie & Wilson, 2001. |
| Provenance |
Acquired from Leen Helmink Antique Maps & Prints on 7 January 2025. Previously part of the Geoffrey Allen Edwards collection. WLB |
| Summary |
An unrecorded early navigation chart by Penelope Steel, cartographer for the English East India Company. This is the first state (edition) with attribution to Penelope Steel. Later editions that are attributed to J.W. Norie have been used to navigate to Western Australia and Australia. The Penelope Steel issue only has a handful of toponyms for the fifth continent, including the Dutch geographical names for Western Australia, and "New Holland" for the mainland of Australia. On the verso of this map, a manuscript note in dates the plotted voyage to the Indies to 1825 and 1826, returning in 1830. -- adapted from Leen Helmink Antique Maps, 2025, with added route details. |
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This map was used on board for navigation with plotted ship's course in red pencil, with date details tracking the route from Amsterdam, passing through the Bay of Biscay, Madeiras, Canary Islands, Cape Verds, Fernando de Noronha (Archipelago in Brazil), Cape of Good Hope, Telemaque near Agulhas Bank, South Africa, Amsterdam and Saint-Paul Islands are located in the southern Indian Ocean, past Cloate's Island, Coco Isles (now Cocos (Keeling) Islands) and into the Strats of Sunda, arriving at Batavia (now Jakarta) on Java Island. Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. This route is popularly known as the Brouwer Route, devised by the Dutch explorer, Hendrik Brouwer in 1611, making use of the strong westerly winds, Roaring Forties, thus lessening the duration of the trade route. It played a major role in the European discovery of the west coast of Australia. Pricking off ship track on map known as Dead Reckoning navigation method. Also due to the lack of an accurate way to determine the longitude of this route and navigation method, many ships were wrecked on the western continental shelf of Australia. |
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Western Australian place names found on the map include Christmas Island, Imperieuse Reef, the largest and most south-westerly reef of the Rowley Shoals Marine Park, Rosemary Island in the Dampier Archipelago in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, Cloate's Island (now Point Cloates), Dirk Hartog's Bay, Sandy Point , Abrolhos Islands (Houtman Abrolhos), Rottnest Island, Cape Chatham (named by George Vancouver aboard HMS Discovery in 1791, the island was renamed as Chatham Island) and D'Entrecasteaux Island. |
| Subjects |
East India Company -- Maps.
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Dead reckoning (Navigation)
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Shipping -- Maps.
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Nautical charts.
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Women cartographers -- England.
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Indian Ocean -- Maps.
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Indonesia -- Maps.
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Western Australia -- Maps.
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Pacific Ocean -- Maps.
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Islands of the Indian Ocean.
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Coasts -- East Indies -- Maps -- Early works to 1800.
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Southeast Asia.
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| Genre/Form |
Early maps.
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Nautical maps.
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| Related names |
Steel, Penelope, cartographer
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