[PACIFIC] Central Pacific Ocean Islands between 160 East & 150 West Longitude

Description

Scarce British Admiralty Hydrographic chart of “central Pacific Islands’ first issued 14th February, 1884, with new editions made on; 1888, 1900, 1902, 1917, 1922, 1923. This issue is with large corrections which would have involved a much intensive survey.

The islands shown are: Rakahanga (Cook Islands), Pleasant Island (Nauru), Ocean Island (Banaba, Kiribati), Baker Island (discovered in 1818 by Captain Elisha Folger of the Nantucket whaling ship Equator, who called the island “New Nantucket”), Nassau island (Cook Islands), Malden island (uninhabited), Vostok island (uninhabited), Flint island (Kiribati /uninhabited), Caroline island (Kiribati /uninhabited), Howland island (uninhabited), Manahiki (Cook Islands), Niuatobutabu (Tonga), Starbuck island (Kiribati), Jarvis island (Bunker Island), Danger Island (was Pukapuka).

The regular updating of Hydrographic charts by the Hydrographic Office was to ensure that commanders of ships, pilots and other mariners were able to have the most to up to date information available to safely navigate foreign waters and ports as new information of changes to sea depths, sand bars, wrecks or other any other pertinent nautical information that could hinder passage became available. As updated charts were offered for sale, the earlier outdated charts in the hands of mariners, pilots, ships owners and sailors were invariably discarded, subsequently making all British Admiralty issued hydrographic charts of the period rare.