James Horsburgh

{{Short description|Scottish hydrographer}} [[File:The Maldiva Islands-Captain Horsburgh-1814.png|thumb|275px|1814 map of 'The Maldiva Islands' by Captain James Horsburgh]] '''James Horsburgh F.R.S''' (23 September 1762{{spaced ndash}}14 May 1836) was a Scottish hydrographer. He worked for the British East India Company, (EIC) and mapped many seaways in the Indian Ocean, the Malay Archipelago, and China in the late 18th century and early 19th century. He is best-known for the ''India Directory'', a set of sailing directions that became a standard work for over half a century.

==Life== James Horsburgh was born at Elie in Fife. His parents were poor, but were able to secure him an education at a local school, and he learned the basics of mathematics, book-keeping and navigation theory. He was apprenticed to Messrs. Wood, merchants of Elie. He went to sea at the age of 16 sailing from Newcastle to Hamburg, Holland, and Ostend, mainly in the coal trade. In May 1770 his ship was captured by the French, and he was imprisoned at Dunkirk.<ref name=Obit>{{cite journal |title=James Horsburgh Obituary |journal=Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society |date=1838 |volume=10 |pages=365-366 |url=https://archive.org/details/1838-horsburgh-obituary-1838-memoirs-of-the-royal-astronomical-societ}}</ref><ref name=Memoirs>{{cite book |last1=Dawson |first1=Llewellyn Styles |title=Memoirs of hydrography, including brief biographies of the principal officers who have served in H.M. Naval Surveying Service between the years 1750 and 1885. Part 1. - 1750 to 1830 |date=1885 |publisher=Henry W. Keay |location=Eastbourne |page=32-33 |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirshydrogra01dawsgoog}}</ref> After his release, he made voyages to the West Indies and Calcutta. On 30 May 1786, on board the EIC ship ''Atlas'' sailing from Batavia to Ceylon he was shipwrecked on the island of Diego Garcia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Horsburgh |first1=James |title=The India Directory, Or: Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, China, Australia and the Interjacent Ports of Africa and South America Volume 1 |date=1841 |publisher=Wm. H. Allen and Co. |location=London |page=201n |edition=Fifth |url=https://archive.org/details/indiadirectoryor01hors}}</ref><ref name=Hydro>{{Citation | title = James Horsburgh | first1 = Capt. Raj S | last1 = Chakravorty | url = http://www.hydro-international.com/issues/articles/id960-James_Horsburgh.html | volume = 12 | number = 7 | journal = Hydro International | year = 2008 | access-date = 2008-12-13 | archive-date = 2014-03-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140307234234/http://www.hydro-international.com/issues/articles/id960-James_Horsburgh.html | url-status = dead }}</ref> This disaster influenced him in his decision to devote himself to producing accurate charts and improving navigation skills.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fry |first1=H.T. |title=Early British Interest in the Chagos Archipelago and the Maldive Islands |journal=The Mariner's Mirror |date=1967 |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=343-356 |doi=10.1080/00253359.1967.10659404}}</ref>

After his rescue from the shipwreck on Diego Garcia, he travelled to Bombay, and joined the crew of the ''Gunjanwar'' in which he became first mate. He spent the next ten years in several large ships trading between Bombay, Bengal and China. In 1791 he joined the ''Anna''. During two voyages to China he taught himself drawing, etching and sperics, and made many observations which enabled him to construct three charts -- of the Strait of Macassar; of the western part of the Philippines; and of the track from Dampier Strait, through Pitt Passage, to Batavia. These charts were forwarded to Alexander Dalrymple, hydrographer to the EIC, who published them for the use of the Company's ships. Horsburgh received a letter of thanks, and a sum of money for the purchase of nautical instruments.<ref name=Memoirs/>

In 1796 he arrived back in England as first mate of the ''Carron'' and met Dalrymple who introduced him to a number of eminent scientists including Sir Joseph Banks and Nevil Maskelyne. He then sailed to the West Indies in ''Carron'', there transporting troops to Puerto Rico and Trinidad. In 1798 he took command of the ''Anna'', the ship in which he had previously been first mate, sailing to China, Bengal, and Madras, as well as twice to England. During these voyages he continued to make frequent observations. When in Bombay, he purchased the astronomical clock which had been made for the expedition in search of La Pérouse. This clock, made by Berthoud had an excellent composition pendulum, and Horsburgh set it up in Bommbay and Canton for chronometer rating and for observations of the eclipses of the satellites of Jupiter. From April 1802 to February 1804 he recorded barometric pressure every four hours. This led to the discovery of a diurnal rise and fall of atmospeheric pressure in the open ocean, which was much less apparent near to the land.<ref name=Thomson>{{cite book |last1=Thomson |first1=Thomas |last2=Chambers |first2=Robert |title=A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen. Supplement, Continuing the Biographies to the Present Time |date=1855 |publisher=Blackie |pages=315-318 |url=https://archive.org/details/thomson-1855-a-biographical-dictionary-of-eminent-sco |chapter=James Horsburgh}}</ref><ref name=Memoirs/> These results were published in the ''Philosophical Transactions'' in 1805.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Horsburgh |first1=James |title=Abstract of observations on a diurnal variation of the barometer between the tropics |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London |date=1805 |volume=95 |pages=177-185 |url=https://archive.org/details/philtrans09446291}}</ref> In that year Horsburgh sailed to England on the ''Cirencester''. On this voyage his companion was Captain Peter Heywood of the Royal Navy, an experienced surveyor who subsequently assisted him in preparing his works for publication.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tagart |first1=E |title=A Memoir of the Late Captain Peter Heywood, R.N.: With Extracts from His Diaries and |date=1832 |publisher=E. Wilson |pages=176-177 |url=https://archive.org/details/oldenglishcustom00ditcrich}}</ref><ref name=Memoirs/>

In March, 1806 Horsburgh was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His proposers were A B Lambert, H Cavendish, A Dalrymple, Wm Marsden, Nevil Maskelyne and M Garthshore.<ref>{{cite web |title=Record: Horsburgh; James (1762 - 1836) |url=https://catalogues.royalsociety.org/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=NA2778 |website=The Royal Society |access-date=20 May 2024}}</ref> In 1808, he published the ''India Directory, Or, Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, China, New Holland, Cape of Good Hope, Brazil, and the Interjacent Ports''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Horsburgh |first1=James |title=India Directory, Or, Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, China, New Holland, Cape of Good Hope, Brazil, and the Interjacent Ports |date=1808}} [https://archive.org/details/horsburgh-1817-india-directory-second-edition Second Edition, 1817]; [https://archive.org/details/indiadirectoryor01hors Fifth Edition, 1841, Volume 1];[https://archive.org/details/indiadirectoryor02hors Fifth Edition, 1841, Volume 2].</ref> This work, as comprehensive as its title suggests, was compiled partly from his own observations and charts, made over 21 years of navigating in those waters, and partly from collating and summarising the journals and reports of other navigators held by the EIC. It became a standard work for navigation for over half a century, going through numerous editions, the last being the eighth in 1864.

thumb|Chart of the East Coast of China, the last chart published by Horsburgh, with names in Chinese and English Alexander Dalrymple died in 1808. Two years later, Horsbrurgh was appointed as his successor in the post of hydrographer to the EIC.<ref name=Thomson/><ref name=Memoirs/> As hydrographer, he published many new charts. In 1816 he published ''Atmospheric Register for indicating storms at sea''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Markham |first1=C.R. |title=A Memoir on the Indian Surveys |date=1871 |publisher=W.H. Allen and Company |page=280 |url=https://archive.org/details/memoironindiansu00mark}}</ref> In 1819 he published a revised and extended edition of Murdoch Mackenzie's ''Treatise on Marine Surveying''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mackenzie |first1=Murdoch |last2=Horsburgh |first2=James |title=Treatise on Marine Surveying |date=1819 |url=https://archive.org/details/mackenzie-1819-a-treatise-on-marine-surveying}}</ref> He died in May 1836, aged 74 years.<ref name=Memoirs/>

==Legacy==

Robert Moresby, during his survey of the Maldives in 1834, named a small atoll south of Southern Maalhosmadulhu Atoll after James Horsburgh as a homage to his valuable previous hydrographic work.

Horsburgh Island in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is also named after him as is the Horsburgh Lighthouse, located on Pedra Branca, Singapore, the construction of which was funded by a group of British merchants in Canton, China (now Guangzhou).<ref name=Hydro />

Horsburgh was the first to document the island now known as Spratly Island, naming it Storm Island. However, Richard Spratly's sighting eventually become better known and led to the naming of the entire region as the Spratly Islands.<ref>{{Citation | title = A Geographical Description of the Spratly Islands and an Account of Hydrographic Surveys Amongst Those Islands | first1 = David | last1 = Hancox | first2 = Victor | last2 = Prescott | volume = 1 | number = 6 | editor-last = Schofield | editor-first = Clive | journal = Maritime Briefing | url = https://www.dur.ac.uk/ibru/publications/view/?id=229 | publisher = UK: International Boundaries Research Unit, University of Durham | year = 1995 | isbn = 1-897643-18-7}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons Category|James Horsburgh}} *[http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/horsburgh_james.htm Electric Scotland], a major educational resource on Scottish History.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horsburgh, James}} Category:1762 births Category:1834 deaths Category:People from Elie and Earlsferry Category:Scottish cartographers Category:Scottish hydrographers Category:British fellows of the Royal Society