James Horsburgh

1814 map of 'The Maldiva Islands' by Captain James Horsburgh

James Horsburgh (28 September 1762 – 14 May 1836) was a Scottish hydrographer. He worked for the British East India Company, (EIC) and mapped many seaways around Singapore in the late 18th century and early 19th century.

Life

Born at Elie, Fife, Horsburgh was apprenticed to Messrs. Wood, merchants of Elie. He went to sea at the age of 16 sailing from Newcastle to Hamburg, Holland, and Ostend, mainly in the coal trade. In May 1870 his ship was captured by the French, and he was imprisoned at Dunkirk. After his release, he made voyages to the West Indies and Calcutta. On 30 May 1786, on board the EIC ship Atlas sailing from Batavia to Ceylon he was shipwrecked on the island of Diego Garcia. This disaster influenced him in his decision to devote himself to producing accurate charts and improving navigation skills.

After his rescue from the shipwreck on Diego Garcia, he travelled to Bombay, and joined the crew of the Gunjanwar in which he became first mate. He spent the next ten years in several large ships trading between Bombay, Bengal and China. In 1791 he joined the Anna. During two voyages to China he taught himself drawing, etching and sperics, and made many observations which enabled him to construct three charts -- of the Strait of Macassar; of the western part of the Philippines; and of the track from Dampier Strait, through Pitt Passage, to Batavia. These charts were forwarded to Alexander Dalrymple, hydrographer to the EIC, who published them for the use of the Company's ships. Horsburgh received a letter of thanks, and a sum of money for the purchase of nautical instruments.

In 1796 he arrived back in England as first mate of the Carron and met Dalrymple who introduced him to a number of eminent scientists including Sir Joseph Banks and Nevil Maskelyne. He then sailed to the West Indies in Carron, there transporting troops to Puerto Rico and Trinidad. In 1798 he took command of the Anna, the ship in which he had previously been first mate, sailing to China, Bengal, and Madras, as well as twice to England. During these voyages he continued to make frequent observations. When in Bombay, he purchased the astronomical clock which had been made for the expedition in search of La Pérouse. This clock, made by Berthoud had an excellent composition pendulum, and Horsburgh set it up in Bommbay and Canton for chronometer rating and for observations of the eclipses of the satellites of Jupiter. From April 1802 to February 1804 he recorded barometric pressure every four hours. This led to the discovery of a diurnal rise and fall of atmospeheric pressure in the open ocean, which was much less apparent near to the land. These results were published in the Philosophical Transactions in 1805. In that year Horsburgh sailed to England on the Cirencester. On this voyage his companion was Captain Peter Heywood of the Royal Navy, an experienced surveyor who subsequently assisted him in preparing his works for publication.

James Horsburgh was the author of the precisely titled Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, China, New Holland, Cape of Good Hope, and the interjacent Ports, compiled chiefly from original Journals and Observations made during 21 years' experience in navigating those Seas, also known as the 'India Directory'.

Horsburgh's Directory became the standard work for oriental navigation in the first half of the 19th century, until Robert Moresby's survey of the treacherous coral groups in the central Indian Ocean, when for the first time in history accurate maps of the areas that were in the way of the main trade routes: the Maldives, Chagos and Laccadives, were published. In March, 1806 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

Legacy

Robert Moresby, during his survey of the Maldives in 1834, named a small atoll south of Southern Maalhosmadulhu Atoll after James Horsburgh as a homage to his valuable previous hydrographic work.

Horsburgh Island in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is also named after him as is the Horsburgh Lighthouse, located on Pedra Branca, Singapore, the construction of which was funded by a group of British merchants in Canton, China (now Guangzhou).

Horsburgh was the first to document the island now known as Spratly Island, naming it Storm Island. However, Richard Spratly's sighting eventually become the vernacular and led to the naming of the entire region as the Spratly Islands.

Works

• James Horsburgh (1817). India Sailing Directory. Chart Office, East India House – via Internet Archive.

See also

• Atolls of the Maldives
• Alexander Dalrymple, 1st Hydrographer of the Navy
• Fehendu / Fulhadu
• Horsburgh Atoll
• Robert Moresby

References

Bibliography

• Hancox, David; Prescott, Victor (1995), Schofield, Clive (ed.), "A Geographical Description of the Spratly Islands and an Account of Hydrographic Surveys Amongst Those Islands", Maritime Briefing, 1 (6), UK: International Boundaries Research Unit, University of Durham, ISBN 1-897643-18-7

External links

• Electric Scotland, a major educational resource on Scottish History.