Festina Lente: Charting the Mediterranean 1814-1824
- ISBN-10
- 0692611738
- ISBN-13
- 9780692611739
- Series
- Festina lente
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2016-01-22
Description
"Festina Lente" describes the charting of the Mediterranean by Captain William Henry Smyth between 1814 and 1824. Significant losses of ships due to grounding during the wars with France had finally convinced the British Admiralty of the value of accurate charts. Smyth, one of the first officers recruited, was assigned to the Mediterranean for a prolonged, scientific expedition in a clumsy, wooden boat using delicate, finicky instruments in areas that varied from politically unstable to openly hostile. This is the story of that mission and the nearly forgotten technology that made it possible.
