As it Was: Highlights of Hydrographic History.

Steve Ritchie and Fellow Writers GITC Publishers

In synergy with, and yet in stark contrast to the article in this issue on digital mapping, As it Was details some of the history of hydrography and cartography, from the earliest form of sailing directions of the 95 to 130 AD era, known as periploi, to an underwater trilateration survey of offshore oil rig pipe lines carried out in 1976.

The author, who served two five-year terms as the President of the Directing Committee of the International Hydrographic Bureau, has compiled 48 grandly illustrated highlights from his Old Hydrographers column that appeared in issues one through six of Hydro International magazine, and that address the history of how this profession operated before the days of electronic ship fixing, GPS and side scan sonar. The spectrum of methods and equipment developed to enable hydro- and cartographic surveys is no less than mind-boggling, as is the collection of tales from the author and his fellow writers. As it Was provides historical insight, for example, into the Chinese navigator Admiral Zheng He (1371 to 1433) and his sailing chart of the Hong Kong coast; the Piri Reis map discovered in Topkapi Palace in 1929 that was drawn on a deerskin in 1513; the metamorphosis from the early Mediterranean sailing directions ('caping the ship' it was called) of the 14th and 15th centuries to the adoption of Dutch chart-building, and the book introduces one of the most celebrated chartmakers of all time; Lucas Janszoon Waghnaer who, in 1583, printed his maritime atlas--the celebrated Spieghel der Zeevaerdt (Mirror of the Sea).

As a treatise on the history of the two professions, Steve Ritchie has created an encyclopaedic standard, reference-quality collection of delightfully illustrated essays that summarise the evolution of hydrography and cartography. For today's digital mapping experts the book gives rise to the subtle reminder: "don't forget to learn the mechanical basics".