- James Horsburgh
James Horsburgh (
September 28 ,1762 —May 14 ,1836 ) was a Scottishhydrographer . He worked for East India Company, whomap ped manyseaway s aroundSingapore in the late 18th century and early 19th century.Born at
Elie ,Fife , he went to sea at the age of 16 and was captured and imprisoned by the French atDunkirk . After his release, he made voyages to theWest Indies andCalcutta . In May 1786, on a voyage on the ship "Atlas" from Batavia toCeylon as first mate, he wasshipwreck ed on the island ofDiego Garcia . This disaster influenced him in his decision to produce accurate maps after he found his way back toIndia and on board another ship employed in the trade toChina .James Horsburgh was the author of the long-titled "Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, China, New Holland, Cape of Good Hope, and the interjacent Ports, compiled chiefly from original Journals and Observations made during 21 years' experience in navigating those Seas".
Horsburgh's Directory was the standard work for oriental navigation in the first half of the 19th century, until
Robert Moresby 's survey of the treacherous coral groups of the central Indian Ocean, when for the first time in history accurate maps of the areas that were in the way of the main trade routes, theMaldives ,Chagos andLaccadives , were published.Robert Moresby, during his survey of the Maldives in 1834, named a small atoll south of Southern Maalhosmadulhu Atoll after James Horsburgh as a homage to his valuable previous hydrographic work.
Another place named after Horsburg is
Horsburgh Island in theCocos (Keeling) Islands .Horsburgh Lighthouse , currently disputed territory betweenSingapore andMalaysia , is also named after him.External links
*http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/horsburgh_james.htm
ee also
*Horsburgh Atoll
*Fulhadu
*Fehendu
*Atolls of the Maldives
*Hydrography
*Cartography
*Robert Moresby
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