Description
This map, titled Carte de l’Isle de Jersey, is a French naval chart produced in 1757 at the Dépôt des Cartes et Plans de la Marine, the official hydrographic office of France. It was drawn under the authority of the French naval minister and compiled by the royal hydrographer Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, one of the most influential cartographers of the eighteenth century. Although Jersey was under English control, the cartouche explicitly states that the map was derived from an English chart published in London in 1755 by Clement Lemprière, demonstrating the pragmatic reuse of enemy intelligence during the Seven Years’ War. The stated purpose “for the service of the King’s ships”—confirms that this was a working military document, not just a decorative map.
The cartouche emphasises royal authority, accuracy, and naval utility. It records the institutional origin of the chart, its English source, and its official approval, while the printed price of eighteen sols and the Dépôt de la Marine anchor seal show that it was also circulated as a standardized government product. The map uses the Paris meridian for longitude, reflecting French scientific practice prior to the international adoption of Greenwich.
The “Remarques” panel explains the map’s dual land and sea function. Numbers printed offshore indicate depths in brasses (fathoms), while numbers on land represent the number of houses (habitations) within each canton, an unusually administrative feature for a sea chart. Bellin also clarifies that rocks uncovered at low tide are shown dotted, and that certain dangers are only visible at specific tidal states—critical information for eighteenth-century navigation in Jersey’s treacherous waters.
The surrounding seas are meticulously labelled with named banks, reefs, and shoals, reflecting local nautical knowledge. To the west and southwest appear hazards such as Les Pierres de Lecq, Banc du Nord, Les Écréhous, and shoals off Corbière, long feared by mariners. To the east and southeast are features including Banc de St Catherine, Banc du Château, and coastal rocks near Mont Orgueil, all carefully plotted to guide approach routes and avoid shipwreck. These names, many still in use today, underline the chart’s practical precision.
On land, the island of Jersey is divided into its twelve historic parishes—St Ouen, St Mary, St John, Trinity, St Martin, Grouville, St Clement, St Saviour, St Helier, St Lawrence, St Peter, and St Brelade and each are subdivided into cantons (administrative divisions) with house counts recorded numerically. These figures provide a rare mid-eighteenth-century snapshot of population distribution, with denser settlement around St Helier and the southern parishes, and lighter habitation in the rural north and west. Such data would have been valuable for logistical planning, taxation estimates, or assessing the feasibility of military operations.
Taken together, the map reveals how navigation, military intelligence, and civil administration were closely intertwined in eighteenth-century state cartography.
