of d'Entrecasteaux

UK hydrographer lost his job over charts of d'Entrecasteaux

The refusal of the British hydro grapher Alexander Dalrymple to take advantage of captured charts of the d'Entrecasteaux expedition to correct British charts of the South Pacific led to his eventual removal from office in 1808.

Dalrymple, who was appointed

Britain's first Admiralty hydrographer

in 1795, was in office when a British warship captured Lieutenant Rossel and the official charts of the d'Entrecasteaux expedition off the Shetland Islands (see this page).

Rossel was taken to London as a prisoner, but was allowed to work on the expedition's charts in Dal rymple's office.

Although Britain and France were at war, and although Dalrymple took copies of Rossel's charts, he did not think it right that Britain should make any use of them because d'Entre casteaux had been carrying passports to protect his expedition from enemy interference when the charts were originally made.

When pressure was put on Dal rymple to use the charts in 1808 by a newly-appointed charting com mittee of naval officers, Dalrymple stored the charts in a locked press and kept the key on his person.

Relationships between Dalrymple and the committee rapidly de teriorated from then on, and he was dismissed within a few months.