Map/Chart > Bermuda
The Bermuda Islands from the survey of Thomes Hurd
The first published Admiralty chart of The Bermuda Islands, copied & reduced from Thomas Hurd's original survey of 1788-1797
|Hydrographer/Surveyor/Artist:||John Walker from a survey by Lt. Thomas Hurd|
|Size Of Original:||w 32" x h 26"|
|Paper Type||Innova Smooth Cotton 315gsm|
Nearly 30 years after Lieutenant Thomas Hurd had completed his survey of the Island of Bermuda in 1797, the Admiralty released this reduced copy of that definitive survey. It is widely believed that the Hurd survey was not reproduced or published prior to 1827 for fear that the hydrographical information may fall into American hands, and even then, when the Admiralty did eventually release this reduced copy of the Hurd survey it was only to the Admiralty Packet Service.
Since the 1790s, and with much thanks to Hurd's survey, Bermuda had been of increasing strategic importance to the British as a mid-way station between Halifax, Britain and her Caribbean Colonies. Its location close to the North American mainland was no less important. The establishment of a large naval base on the Island was a further mark of its value as it was thus able to extend substantial protection to the trade routes to and from the Caribbean.