Pictured here is the Des Barres map of Halifax Harbour along with two late 18th century nautical instruments. The instrument on the left is an octant, and the one on the right is a ring dial. Both were used for navigation.
Note the coloured sketches showing the approaches to Halifax. In the centre is a set of sailing directions for getting into the harbour.
While commissioned by the British Admiralty for use by the Royal Navy, the charts in the Atlantic Neptune became the standard guide for ships along the Atlantic coast during the late 18th and early 19th century. More detailed surveying projects in the 19th century, coupled with more advanced hydrographic techniques, produced charts of greater accuracy which only gradually superseded the charts in the Atlantic Neptune.
Courtesy: William Inglis Morse Collection, Dalhousie University Library, Halifax, N.S.; Instruments loaned by Nova Scotia Museum Halifax, N .S.
