The Sea Chart

A substantial collection of beautiful and important charts and illustrations that will appeal to seasoned navigators and mariners, as well as 'arm-chair sailors'

Lieutenant-Commander John Blake, FRIN, spent twelve years in the Royal Navy. He has worked extensively with the UK Hydrographic Office, the producers of Admiralty Charts, and is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation. John is the author of the acclaimed Conway publications The Sea Chart (2003) and Sea Charts of the British Isles (2005). His research interests span the maritime world, from nautical charts and surveying to merchant shipping.

The magnificent, enduring legacy which Lt Cdr John Blake, RN, has bequeathed to the world is one of those astonishing volumes which changes lives because it transforms the way history is viewed. Thank you, Lt Cmdr Blake. You have become the second Blake to bring nautical greatness to the Royal Navy!
.. in this lustrous work, John Blake ... has assembled a mouth-watering collection with which to illuminate this history of cartography.
. the book is a useful and beautifully produced look at a subject which has important implications in the study of navigation, exploration, whaling, colonisation and empire.
New books on sea charts are most welcome, especially when they contain material rarely or never previously published. John Blake has trawled a variety of chart collections ... and has put together a most interesting volume.
As a Bridge Officer I always greatly enjoyed using those older surveys ... and John Blake has produced a scholarly work, one of the most magnificent nooks I have seen for some time. A MUST for all navigators and students of the history of navigation.
....John Blake's magnificently illustrated and informative book.
A mouth-watering collection of historic nautical maps and navigational charts.
Wonderfully presented and lavish ... beautiful to look at but [the maps'] influence on history is much greater than even the aesthetic pleasure they now bring.