[Red Sea Map] Carte de la Mer Rouge d'apres les travaux execute de 1830 à 1834 par M.M. Elwon et Moresby, Officier de la Marine Anglaise des Indes, Corriges en 1858 par le Capne. W.J.S. Pullen et les Officiers du Cyclops (2993. I42)

B/w maritime chart with faint yellow hand colouring, dissected into 32 sections and mounted on original unbleached linen 74x107cm. Near fine, foxed. Very rare, with Worldcat locating editions for 1871 (Universite Rennes), 1873 (University of Chicago, St Galler Bibliotheksnetz, Kantonsbibliothek Vadiana St Gallen), 1938 (Paris Natural History Museum), and 1955 (Biblioteca Nacional de Espana). This is a French adaptation of the British East India Company's Indian Navy map drawn by Captain Thomas Elwon aboard HCS Benares and Commander Robert Moresby aboard HCS Palinurus during 1830-34, with corrections made by Captain W.J.S. Pullen and officers of HMS Cyclops in 1858. Engraved by J. Millian with tinting by Naudin, Nyon, it was first published by the French Depot des Cartes et Plans de la Marine in 1871. The Depot was reorganised as the Service Hydrographique de la Marine attached to the Naval General Staff in 1886, which apparently continued to publish it with corrections after that. This edition includes major corrections up to April 1889, and secondary corrections to May 1896. The Elwon / Moresby Survey was initiated by Charles Malcolm, Superintendent of the Bombay Marine / Indian Navy, who wanted to improve links between Britain and India by introducing steam powered vessels into the Red Sea. An extremely arduous undertaking involving "great dangers and privations", their work filled a gap in the availability of reliable charts with navigation hitherto reliant on the knowledge of Arab pilots and older surveys. The chart's coverage extends from Suez and Aqaba south to Zeylah (Zeila) on the British Somaliland coast, and Aden on the Yemeni coast on a scale of 1/2.54M. Details include numerous major and smaller settlements, mountain ranges and individually named mountains (with several spot heights), islands, reefs and shoals, with yellow colouring presumably for lighthouses. Inland locations shown on the Hejazi side include La Mecque (Mecca) and Medine (Medina), and on the Abyssinian side a carefully drawn route from Ansley Bay to Magdala via Dongola. This issue dates to the climax of Anglo-French rivalry in East Africa. While Britain was building its spine from the Cape to Cairo, France was seeking to link the Atlantic to the Red Sea from Dakar to Sudan. This conflict of interest ended with the Fashoda Incident in 1898, when France tried unsuccessfully to take control of the Upper Nile Basin.…