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

World Map by John Seller John Seller, 39 years old, a compass maker and a writer, already famous in the world of navigation for his handbook entitled Practical Navigation (1669), newly appointed as the Hydrographer to King Charles II, publishes the first volume of a collection of charts and of sailing instructions named The English Pilot . This is a very useful work, if far from being original. One must say that many Seller’s charts actually are Dutch ones copied with English