Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 1:06:22-1:06:43

Samuel Pepys and the demand for reliable coastal charts

Pepys backed survey funding because an effective navy could not tolerate ships grounding on hazards absent from its charts.

HydrographyNaval NavigationNaval ReformRoyal NavySamuel Pepys
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Question

Were the early coastal surveys part of Samuel Pepys's reforms of Royal Navy navigation?

Short answer

Yes: Pepys pushed the work and its funding because inaccurate charts were causing avoidable ship losses.

Notes

The exchange places early coastal surveying within Samuel Pepys's wider effort to improve Royal Navy administration and navigation. Pepys supported the work and helped secure funding rather than treating charts as an optional scientific luxury. His practical concern was that warships were running onto rocks that their navigational information did not show. Better surveys therefore belonged to fleet readiness as much as exploration.