The Three Voyages of Edmond Halley in the ‘Paramore’, 1698-1701

1981

Journals G161 H2 Ser. 2 no. 156

London: Hakluyt Society

Astronomer, mathematician, and physicist, Edmond Halley’s initial voyage in the Paramore was the ‘first purely scientific voyage by an English naval vessel’. Halley (1656-1742) set out to collect data on longitude by observing magnetic variations in the Atlantic Ocean. After the first two voyages (1698; 1699), he was able to produce this isogonic map of the large expanse of water. The map was the first published of its kind and helped Atlantic navigators to find longitude at sea. It is described in this volume as ‘one of the most important maps in the history of cartography’. On Halley’s third voyage in the Paramore, he recorded tidal variations in the English Channel; a slightly less adventurous journey but the results of which proved just as useful for navigators of those waters.