Catalogues of printed charts and publications

CCP

Catalogues of printed charts and publications

1825 - 1916

This series contains Admiralty publications only; for foreign government and commercial producer’s catalogues see OCC. The concept of selling Admiralty charts was raised by Captain Hurd and the first list of charts for sale published in 1821. The 1825 edition, which is the earliest held by the UKHO, lists 643 charts or surveys and 98 views (CCP 1/1).

The chart catalogue for 1839 was printed ‘for Her Majesty’s Stationary Office’. This was the first mention of HMSO, which had been established in 1786. An important innovation was introduced in this catalogue: the numbering of charts using Arabic numbers. As charts were not given Arabic numbers before 1839, identifying charts held in the H.O. archive that were published but cancelled or withdrawn before this date can sometimes be problematic. These charts are referred to as ‘never numbered’ and a working list by L Pascoe is held in the Archive library section on the open shelves.
The 1905 catalogue gave charts a second, ‘new’, number in parenthesis, running consecutively from 1 to 3,437 through the navigational charts. There had been a similar numbering scheme (or system) in place five years previously, and on both occasions the gigantic task of any renumbering presumably proved too formidable. When a chart was cancelled the number was re-used for a new chart, perhaps of another area, after a period of five years. This had been the practice for some fifty years. Chart numbering should be viewed with caution as there are some anomalies.

In 1909 the published chart catalogue was completely recompiled with more detailed information, and photographic reductions of the A to V index charts, made at the Ordnance Survey office, were included. These index charts show the geographical limits covered by the charts advertised for sale in the catalogues.

In 1962 the chart catalogue was given the Nautical Publication code NP 131.

The Archive does not hold the earliest catalogue or any supplements issued before 1825. The catalogues that are held were microfilmed in the 1990s and copies were sent to all major libraries and T.N.A.. In the 2010s selected catalogues were digitised and made available through the UKHO’s website. The catalogues can be used to identify chart numbers in the OCB collection (for more information see OCB Record copies of Admiralty charts (‘old copy bundles’)).

At the end of the First World War a technical report was written detailing all the Fleet charts produced during the conflict. This technical history has been digitised and is available on request. Printed Fleet charts are normally classified until they are fifty years old and not available to the public until they are declassified.

For a history of chart sales and the earliest catalogues during the period 1808 to 1829 see Adrian Webb’s PhD thesis The Expansion of British Naval Hydrographic Administration 1808-1829 (Exeter, 2010), available from the University of Exeter website.

This is a high-level catalogue of the data types and collections held in the UKHO Archive. As well as providing a description of all the collections held in the Archive, it lists the series within each collection, together with covering dates. It predominantly covers analogue records, with a few exceptions for records held on CD. The UKHO?s practice for selecting born digital records will remain essentially the same as that for paper and steps are currently under way to plan for their availability. We plan to maintain the availability of our products for researchers across the transition from the paper chart to succeeding electronic forms.

Collections have been arranged by creator if possible. In some cases, due to the seemingly ever changing office structure, it has not proved possible to identify the creator?s role, or office and therefore the material has been arranged by record type. It is hoped that when the individual series within each of these collections is catalogued in greater detail, a creator can be identified and the records transferred to sit within the appropriate collection. As cataloguing progresses the following collections? descriptions, listings and covering dates will be refined and updated. The terminology used in this document has been simplified wherever possible. The term ?Hydrographic Office?, or ?H.O.?, refers to the office established in 1795 that is today?s UK Hydrographic Office. This has been used instead of the term ?Department? as there were many departments within the Hydrographic Office during the period when the vast majority of classes of records were created.

Due to the large amount of transformation work and retrospective cataloguing work required within the archive, some of the records in this guide may require appraisal and selection before being formally accessioned and recognised as the part of the UKHO?s place of deposit. This is a work in progress.

Until such time as all the 19th century records have been catalogued in full, this catalogue of corrections should be used in conjunction with ACF David?s A Provisional Catalogue of Logs, Journals, Documents, Letters, Record Copies of Books and Pamphlets Published by The Hydrographic Department, 1974.

The UK Hydrographic Office is working on cataloguing uncatalogued material and making it available. Please contact us for more information.

The Archive comprises the following collections:
AAC Additional Admiralty charts (not OCB ‘old copy bundles’)
ACB Air Chart Branch records
ACO Artificial collection
ACS Accessions (2016 onwards)
ADM 344 Views
APR Admiralty Raster Chart Service (ARCS) production records
ART Artifacts
BDR Bathymetric data records
CAB Cables records
CBR Chart Branch records
CCP Catalogues of printed charts and publications
CIB Chart Issues Branch records
CMU Chart Maintenance Unit records
COD Catalogues of original documents
CON Conservation records
CPY Copies of records
CRB Composite Remark Books
CTR Contracts Branch records
DIS Displays created by the Archive and other departments
DVY Discovery Committee records
EPR Electronic Navigational Charts production records
FNR Finance records
GDY Geodesy records
GEB GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) records
HD Registered Files HD Papers
HIG Hydrographic instruction graphics
HOL Hydrographic Office library
HOO Hydrographic Office orders
HOP Hydrographic Office pictures
HOR Hydrographic Office reports
HRR Human Resources records
HTP Hydrographic Office technical papers
IHO International Hydrographic Organization records
ILB Indexes to Letter Books
IMB Indexes to Minute Books
IPR Intellectual Property records
ISLB Indexes to Surveyors' Letter Books (out letters)
LB Letter Books
LLR Lights Lists records
LOD Lists of oceanic depths
LOS Law of the sea records (and maritime limits)
LP 1857 Incoming Letters prior to 1857
LR Long rolls
MAM Marketing advertising material
MAP Maps
MB Minute Books
MBE Enclosures to Minute Books
MEL Meteorological data
MLP Miscellaneous Letters and Papers
MP Miscellaneous Papers (Remark Books)
MR Miscellaneous rolls
NAO Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office records
NEM NEMEDRI
NMR Notices to mariners records
NPR Nautical publications records
OAW Original artwork
OCB Record copies of Admiralty charts (‘old copy bundles’)
OCC Other printed chart catalogues (non UKHO)
OCG Official corporate gifts
OCS Cancelled Foreign Government Symbols, Abbreviations and Terms on charts
OCY Oceanography records
OD Original Documents
ONM Other notices to mariners records (non-UKHO)
OPC Other printed charts and maps (non-Admiralty)
OPT Offprints
PGY Photogrammetry records
PMC Polar Medal Committee records
PRR Production records
REG Registry records, see also:
Bath Bath series files
CIB CIB series files
H H series files
HA HA series files
HC HC series files
HH HH series files
HMO HMO series files
HP HP series files
HP HP (Nottingham) series files
(Nottingham)
HS HS series files
HW HW series files
RSR Radio Signals records
S Papers S Papers
SAR Sailing Directions records
SCR Ships’ commissioning records
SCT Secretariat records
SFD Survey field data
SL Incoming Surveyors’ Letters
SLB Surveyors' Letter Books (out letters)
SLG Ships’ logs
SMB Special Minute Books
SPD Ships’ plans and diagrams
SPR Survey planning records
TBR Tidal Branch records
UHR Unofficial Hydrographic records
UNR Unidentified records which require further investigation
USR Unofficial staff records (including clubs, societies, publications etc)
WKO Wrecks Office records

NPR Nautical publications records

OCC Other printed chart catalogues (non UKHO)

OCB Record copies of Admiralty charts (‘old copy bundles’)

Access is by appointment only. Please see our contact details for more information.