Tudor and Stuart Seafarers

With accurate navigation so important to success at sea, during Elizabeth I’s reign it became fashionable to own navigational tools and to have oneself painted using them. 

Humfrey Cole, a maker of scientific and mathematical instruments, spotted a gap in the market for a catch-all tool and made this golden astronomical compendium in 1569. 

It's a sort of Swiss army knife for rich gentlemen, containing a miniature tide chart of international harbours, a theodolite (used for measuring angles between points in the horizontal and vertical planes), an astronomical chart and a compass.

This hand-coloured map shows the world in an unusual double-hemisphere projection. Titled A new and accurate map of the world..., it was included in John Speed’s atlas, the first world atlas produced by an English person. 

From the map, you can see that by the early 17th century Europeans had a good knowledge of vast swathes of America, Africa and Asia. 

Four famous navigators frame the map; Ferdinand Magellan, Sir Francis Drake, Thomas Cavendish and Oliver van der Noort, recognising their contributions to mapping the world.

This painting by Aert Anthonisz is an artistic interpretation of the launching of English ‘fire-ships’ against the Spanish Armada. 

In 1588, Spain and England were in conflict. Aware that Spain was amassing a fleet, England created its own to meet the threat.

The 'battle' of the Armada was a series of small engagements as the Spanish fleet attempted passage up the English Channel. This painting depicts a skirmish where Sir Francis Drake, second in command of the English fleet, dispatched eight small ships packed with flammables, known as fire-ships. 

They were set alight amongst the anchored Spanish fleet which caused panic, forcing the Spanish ships to cut their cables in order to save themselves. When storms swept the Spanish into the North Sea, they were scattered around the Scottish coast, and many ended up wrecked off of Northern Ireland.

This 17th-century journal belonged to a Stuart seafarer named Edward Barlow, providing us with a first-hand window into the life of a historic seafarer. 

During his long and illustrious career on the waves, Edward served in the Anglo-Dutch wars, battled pirates in the Mediterranean and sailed to India and China with the East India Company. 

In his neat script, he details the unfamiliar territories, exotic customs, and unexpected wildlife he encountered on his voyages.

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