A rare sea chart, focusing on Manila Bay and its environs, from the second and greatly enlarged and revised edition of Mannevillette's, Neptune Oriental in 1775.
The chart extends from the North coast of Mindoro Island to north of Pointe de Capones, centered on Manilla Bay and Subec Bay. It is based on the most progressive sources available to the French Navy. European interest in Manila Bay, and the Philippines in general, was heightened upon hearing news of British Admiral George Anson's capture of a Spanish Manila Galleon off of Cabo Espiritu Santo, in 1743.
The present chart was drafted by Jean-Batiste de Mannevillette (1707-80). Mannevillette apprenticed under the great royal cartographer Guillaume De L'Isle. He then joined the maritime service of the Compagnie des Indes, eventually attaining the rank of captain. Upon his return to Paris, Mannevillette was appointed as director of the Dépôt des Cartes et Plans de la Navigation des Indes. In 1745, he published the first edition of his sea atlas of Asian waters, Le Neptune Oriental. The high quality of Mannevillette's charts won him the acclaim of both mariners and academics alike, and he was admitted as a fellow of the Academy of Sciences. He published a second, heavily revised, edition of the Neptune Oriental in 1775.
Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Denis d'Après de Mannevillette (1707–1780) was a French sailor and hydrographer.
D'Après de Mannevillette was a captain for the Compagnie des Indes, and in this position, he charted the coasts of the East Indies and China. He published the Neptune Oriental for the first time in 1745. It was a major cartographical achievement and a practical resource for navigators sailing to the Indian Ocean and Asia. The 1775 edition encompassed the majority of the known world.
D'Après de Mannevillette's access to up-to-date sources of information – such as explorer´s narratives - and his eagerness to constantly update the cartography of his maps, enabled him to produce some of the most accurate charts of the 18th century.