Production records

By 1797 the first Hydrographer, Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808), in addition to an assistant and draughtsman, employed three copper plate engravers and a printer. By 1831 manually drawn charts were being sent for engraving to Walkers of Castle Street, Holborn. Once the plates were engraved they were sent back to the Admiralty, where one or two printers ran off copies as required.

Once a ‘compilation drawing’ had been drawn up for a new chart and the work had been approved (see CBR Chart Branch records for further information), the engraver would then take that drawing, transfer the detail in reverse onto a copper plate and by engraving it so that a master printing plate was created. When any correction was required, the area of the old detail could be hammered out from behind, the plate smoothed clean, and the whole of the area re-engraved with the new material. From the engraved copper the finished chart would be printed by direct impression on a flat-bed printer.

In 1891 the Hydrographer proposed the major step of duplicating chart plates by electrotyping. A few years later in 1904, the use of heliozincography demonstrated that plates could readily be made from dry proofs stored at the Admiralty or British Museum. This was a less expensive way of insuring against disaster than the duplication or copper plates, whose correction had in any case fallen into arrears. Photo-etching of coppers was being introduced and more photography was being used in Chart Branch. In 1906, charts were printed on pegamoid for torpedo-boat destroyers and torpedo-boats in Home Waters, but they needed waterproofing with varnish after correction, and were abandoned in 1908.

The process of chart production was modified in the late 1930s when the more efficient method of printing from a zinc plate (copied from the original copper) was adopted. In 1957 experiments were begun with plastic sheets in place of zinc or copper plates. Plastic materials soon came to dominate the draughting process. During this period there was also an increasing use of colour on charts.

Although in the first half of the nineteenth century, charts were printed in house, in 1855 Malbys took over this task, although the copper plates were still kept in the basement of the Admiralty in the Hydrographer’s charge when not in use. In 1883, engraving was still done outside the Department by contract, as was printing. In the early 1900s charts were still printed by Malbys and engraved by two firms, Davies and Weller. A few years later, following dissatisfaction with the services provided, it was decided to bring chart printing back under the Hydrographer’s direct control. In 1919, approval was given to set up an Admiralty Chart Establishment, which opened at Cricklewood in 1922. At first this was operated by HM Stationary Office on the Hydrographer’s behalf, but in 1929 it was transferred to the Hydrographer’s direct control.

From c.1835 the practice of permanently retaining printing plates of charts compiled from original British surveys was introduced. However, in the 1880s about four hundred of the old copper printing plates in store were disposed of, with three ‘pulls’ of each plate being retained for record purposes. The pulls are found in AAC 12, AAC 46 and AAC 48. Up until 1923 all plates were stored in the Admiralty building, but from this date cancelled plates were retained in the new Chart Establishment at Cricklewood. Admiralty plates were transferred into the basement of Cornwall House when Chart Branch and the Archives moved to the new site. In 1936 it was discovered that some of these had been stolen and the collection was then moved to Cricklewood.

In 1938 the Superintendent of the Admiralty Chart Establishment had under him 114 non-industrial staff and 222 industrials. From 1936 he had as his Assistant Superintendent (Production) a senior cartographer. He also had an Assistant Superintendent (Supplies) dealing with the chart depot side of the business, the issue of charts and other publications to the Fleet.

In 1941 all the cancelled copper plates were brought together at Taunton. Some cancelled plates were sold as scrap for the value of the copper, but those thought to be of historic or aesthetic interest were retained and some were presented to relevant Commonwealth countries. After the Second World War the Des Barres plates, from the 18th century, were presented to various institutions and museums in Canada and USA.

Early in the war the Cricklewood printing factory suffered air raid damage. A new large printing establishment, Creechbarrow House, was built at the site that had been purchased in 1938 at Taunton. In 1940, a proportion of the production staff were moved from Cricklewood to Exeter. The facilities at Exeter were wiped out during the bombing of the city but fortunately the facilities at Taunton had just come into operation.

By November 1940 a useful group of disused printing machinery of a suitable size for printing charts had been found at Nottingham and was requisitioned and put to work. Emergency premises were also set up in Ironbridge and Armadale. At the end of June 1941 the chart reproduction, printing and issues sections moved from the Admiralty Chart Establishment at Cricklewood to the newly acquired site at Taunton, known as Creechbarrow House. However, the establishments at Nottingham, Ironbridge and Armadale were kept open until the end of the War.

The work undertaken at Taunton, in addition to printing departmental publications, included work for H.M.S.O.. In 2016 printing ceased in Taunton after exactly 75 years; this was mainly due to print on demand, the increase in use of digital charts and outsourcing.

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

CIB Chart Issues Branch records

CBR Chart Branch records

H, HA Registered files

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