The Sooloo Archipelago Laid down chiefly from Observations in 1761, 1762, 1763, & 1764 [insets]: 1) Toolyan Bay, by Mr. James Rennel [sic]. 2) Sooloo Road [by James Rennel [sic] (?)]

Description

copper engraving.

Important map of this area by Dalrymple, and 2 inset charts by Maj. Rennell, with legends on the left side, identifying hills, towns & points, and on the right, types of the sea bed, and an unusual explanation on the pronunciation of names, from ‘General Introduction to the Charts…’, pl. 56.

Already in April 1766, Dalrymple approached the East India Company (EIC) with the idea of issuing a series of uniform charts of Borneo, Palawan, Mindanao, and Sulu, as a means to promote his plan of creating a trading settlement on the island of Balambangan. The charts would be based on his own observations made during his two voyages to the area. In 1769 the EIC issued Dalrymple with a grant to support his project, which resulted in ‘A collection of Charts and Memoirs’ with this chart “published according to Act of Parliament by Alexander Dalrymple Dec. 10, 1771” and its inclusion in his rare pilot ‘General Introduction to the Charts and Memoirs’, 1771/2; subsequently it was published in d’Après de Mannevillette’s ‘Le Neptune Oriental’.

The first hydrographer to the British Admiralty, Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808) is best known for his researches regarding a great Southern Continent, as well as a proponent of the search for the Northwest Passage (thereby influencing Vancouver’s survey). Through family connections, Dalrymple was made a writer (the most junior position) for the EIC and sent to Madras where he arrived in May 1753. He was afforded access to Robert Orme’s library and grew increasingly fascinated with the EIC’s activities in Burma, Indo-China and Borneo.

He turned down a promotion in order to undertake a voyage to the East of his own. In February 1759, Pigot freighted the ‘Cuddalore’ (Captain George Baker) for Dalrymple ‘to attempt to discover a new route to China through the Molucca Islands and New Guinea’. Dalrymple made three voyages between 1759 and 1764 to the Philippines, Borneo, and Sulu:

In the first, based at Canton (Guangzhou), he reconnoitred Borneo, the Philippines, and the coast of Cochin-China. For the second, in London in 1762, James Rennell was his companion for a voyage to Sulu and Balambangan, where he obtained a grant of land for EIC. In Madras in 1763 he formally resigned and expected reinstatement, to return to London to promote a trading settlement at Balambangan. En route to Canton for passage to England he became provisional deputy governor at Manila for a short period in April 1764, in the aftermath of the Treaty of Paris, and he arrived in London in the summer of 1765. (ODNB)

Major James Rennell, FRGS (1742-1830) was an English geographer, historian and a pioneer of oceanography. Rennell produced some of the first accurate maps of Bengal at one inch to five miles as well as accurate outlines of India and served as Surveyor General of Bengal. Rennell has been called the Father of Oceanography. In 1830, he was one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society in London. (Wikipedia)