A viewer notes the embarrassment of French mariners relying on better British charts of the French coast. The answer treats this as evidence of British sea control rather than simple French incompetence. Royal Navy blockade and command of the Channel gave British surveyors repeated access to the waters off France. Hydrographic knowledge therefore supported maritime power and accumulated as a consequence of exercising it.
Notable Point · 58:15-58:42
Why British charts could outperform France's own coastal maps
Superior charts of an enemy coast can reflect the sustained access created by blockade and command of nearby waters.