John Hadley John Hadley, a mathematician aged 49, presents a new instrument of navigation, the octant, also known as the reflecting quadrant, at the Royal Society. A member of the Royal Society, he is already and rightly famous as the inventor of the parabolic reflecting telescope which he presented ten years ago. Three other person at least are working on an instrument of the same sort these days : (1) Thomas Godfrey, 27, a glazier, likely ahead of the group by one or two y

Le Neptune François, recueil de cartes marines publié en 1693 The French navy ministry establishes the ‘Dépôt des cartes et plans, journaux et mémoires concernant la navigation’ which is the first official wide-purpose Hydrography Office in the world, but not the prototype of a dedicated organisation. Its purpose looks like the one assigned to the School of Sangres (1420-60) by Prince Henry the Navigator (†1460) according to the facts and legends about his method of explorati

Brest Founded in 1631 as a military dockyard by Archbishop and Prime Minister Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu (†1642), the port of Brest has just been endowed with a dry dock after four years of work. The permanent installation of Royal dockyards on the Atlantic coast was thwarted by lack of stability and of loyalty of Governors and Admirals from the wars of religion until the end of the Fronde. Those troubled times notably jeopardised the destiny of La Rochelle. They a

Edmund Halley Edmund Halley, the famous astronomer whom we already acknowledged in previous chronicles, now aged 45, publishes the General Chart of the Variation of the Compass. This chart is based on his observations that he made aboard the Paramour – a weird name for a science-purpose warship. Halley was given command of this 90-ton 6-gun pink in 1698-1700 for the purpose of a hydrographic exploration of the Atlantic ocean to determine the variation of Magnetic North agains

Always looking for a solution of river navigation substituting for the horse-drawn barges, Claude de Jouffroy d’Abbans is back in competition after seven years of reflections and of design. He trials a new steamboat moving on the Saône river in the city of Lyon. By all accounts, this is a feat. There have been at least ten thousands eye witnesses to admire the boat when, for the great event, it triumphantly steamed against the stream from Vaise, the place where it had been

Claude de Jouffroy d'Abbans Looking for a solution of river navigation substituting for the horse-drawn barges, a French gentleman,...

Pierre Arnoul A distinguished naval administrator, Pierre Arnoul, aged 28, is held responsible for a shipwreck so ousted from his...

Charles Baudin Admiral Charles Baudin, 54 years old, achieves to silence the strong fortress which defends Vera Cruz, considered as impregnable, within five hours of fire on the 28th of November. Afterwards the citadel surrenders under the threat of a resumption of bombing. This feat is even more outstanding that it is the outcome of three frigates and two bomb vessels, with some help of a corvette and of two steam tugs. The battle takes place in the Pastry War between Mexi

Joachim d’Alencé, an astronomer, publishes the first release of an annual ephemeris, the ‘ Connoissance des Temps' . He has worked on...

Tobias Mayer Tobias Mayer, a German astronomer aged 29, publishes Tabulæ motuum Solis et Lunæ novæ et correctæ, that are tables of the...

SS Sirius Two steamships (or SS in short), Sirius and Great Western , simultaneously cross the Atlantic Ocean from Cork in Ireland for...

Line Ticket The Wright, Thompson, Marshall & Thompson Line, founded last year, has opened the first regular service between New York and...

Royal Sovereign 1701 A new Establishment extends standardisation of warships to a larger number of dimensions – hence the constraints to...

José Antonio de Gaztañeta The shipyards of Orio and Pasajes, west and east of San Sebastian, build six 60-gun ships of the line, three...

Isaac Newton The Longitude Act is passed by the Parliament ‘ for providing a Publick Reward for such Person or Persons as shall...

On the 22nd of October, three ships of the line, the 90-gun Association , the 70-gun Eagle , and the 50-gun Romney run aground on the Western reefs of Scilly islands. They founder with all hands but one. The fireship Firebrand also goes ashore and sinks with half her crew. The 90-gun St George and the fireship Phoenix strike on the reefs too but manage to get off. On her own, the 100-gun Royal Anne escapes the rocks within a hair. A thousand and three hundreds sail

The British Admiralty establishes a standardisation and a specification of the general dimensions for the next vessels to be built. ¤ ...

Henry Winstantley Henry Winstantley, 54 years old, an engineer and a painter, lights the lighthouse he has built at his own expense on...

William Phips William Phipps or Phips, aged 36, originally a shipwright before becoming a complete ship captain and a famous treasure...

Edmund Halley Edmund Halley, an astronomer and polymath aged 30, presents at the Royal Society a map of the Trade Winds also known as Easterlies. As for the Atlantic ocean, they have been known by the Portuguese since the beginning of the exploration, that is in the first half of the 15th century. As for the Pacific ocean, this is Andrés de Urdaneta (†1568) who brought them to light in 1565 and plotted a map for the Manila galleon route between the Philippines and Acapulco.