Navigation of the Atlantic Ocean [together with] Navigation of the Indian Ocean, China and Australian Seas

Navigation of the Atlantic Ocean, containing a brief account of the winds, weather, and currents prevailing therein. With charts. London : J. D. Potter, 1859. Second edition. [Together with] : Navigation of the Indian Ocean, China and Australian Seas, with an account of the winds, weather, and currents found therein throughout the year. London : J. D. Potter, 1859. Second edition. Octavo, publisher’s gilt-lettered cloth, slightly chipped at head of spine, title leaf, introduction leaf, pp. 139; xv; [blank]; 262, four folding charts, one page miscut, a very good copy.

Very scarce pair of navigational manuals by Alexander Bridport Becher, hydrographer, cartographer, and Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy.

First published in 1859, this second edition was issued the same year, with a third edition in 1864.

The first work, Navigation of the Atlantic Ocean, discusses navigational routes and weather phenomena to be aware of throughout the different zones of the ocean, including the South Frigid zone, with discussion of the expedition of the explorers Captain James Cook and Dumont d’Urville. It discusses the appearance of tornadoes, and winds off the coast of the Congo, Biafra, Liberia, the Bay of Biscay, Cuba, the northern Arctic zone, Cape Horn, the Gulf Stream, the United States etc.

The second work, Navigation of the Indian Ocean, China and Australian Seas, discusses numerous weather phenomena including the particularities of the monsoon season off the east coast of Africa, the Red Sea, Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Gulf, India, the Maldives, Ceylon, the Bay of Bengal, the Coromandel Coast, the Straits of Malacca, Sumatra, Java, Timor, the Torres Straits, the North West cast of Australia, Western Australia (including Perth), Bass Strait and the southern coastline of Australia, Mauritius, Reunion and Rodriguez, Borneo and Celebes, Siam and the Philippines, the Gulf of Tonkin, Cambodia, eastern China, and Formosa (Taiwan), before discussing various navigational routes through the Indian Ocean outward and homebound, at different times of year, including various routes to Muscat and the Persian Gulf, different routes to Eastern China, Hong Kong, Macao, Canton, Singapore, and the Philippines. The final section concerns routes from India and China to Australia, through the Torres Strait, to and from Port Jackson at different times of year, with different routes including those recommended by Captain King.

A single example of this second edition is recorded in Australian collections (University of Sydney), with the SLNSW holding the first edition, and three copies of the third edition held in Australian libraries.