An appealing and important Arctic map, issued in Moses Pitt’s ambitious but ill-fated English Atlas and capturing two great English ambitions: to discover a northern sea route to Asia, and to rival Dutch dominance in map publishing.

The map is an original compilation, largely composed from the best English source materials then available to Pitt. It reflects one of the great preoccupations of the era, the quest for a northern route from Western Europe to the East Indies and Far East. If such could be located, it was expected to be a shorter voyage for merchantmen than the familiar routes via Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. The map is thus an excellent summation of earlier English attempts at finding a Northwest Passage, as demonstrated by the multitude of place names honoring explorers like Henry Hudson, John Davis, William Baffin, Thomas Button, and Thomas James.

Unfortunately, for all the effort, treasure, and lives expended, these early voyages provided an illusory hope of discovering such a passage. The map embodies this hope in two loosely-defined passages leading west from Button’s Bay, as well as “Jonas Sound” leading west from Baffins Bay. In reality, a fully navigable passage would not be successfully navigated by sea until Roald Amundsen’s voyage of 1903–1906, more than three centuries after this map was published.

The map also repeats some early misconceptions, notably the legendary island of “Freesland” (aka “Frisland”) to the south of Greenland and Iceland, a staple of contemporary maps. To the west of Freesland “M. Forbisher’s Straits” bisect Greenland, an interesting error derived perhaps from Sanson’s 1656 “Le Canada, ou Nouvelle France”. The complex of islands to the west of Davis Straits looks like pure guesswork.

The inset of “Nova Zembla” incorrectly—and in contrast to the main map—depicts it as a peninsula rather than an island. The text below refers to a map from the Philosophical Transactions the journal of the Royal Society—suggesting a link between this map and Robert Hooke, the eminent scientist, mapmaker and Secretary of the Society. Hooke was one of the most active backers of Pitt’s atlas project, and Hooke’s diaries offer brief comments about the genesis of the atlas: he mentions consulting with Pitt and his engravers as well as providing Pitt with maps, so it is no stretch to imagine that this map was compiled by Hooke himself.

Reinforcing the link to the Royal Society, the mapmaker has included a detail of an expedition by member Robert Wood, who in 1676 attempted to reach Japan by sailing over the North Pole. Wood met however an impenetrable wall of ice, and his two ships—the Speedwell and the Prosperous–were forced to alter course and sail east. Unfortunately, the Speedwell was lost off Novaya Zemlaya, though its crew was rescued by the Prosperous. In best black English humor, the site of the shipwreck is labeled “P[oint] Speed-ill” on the west coast of the island.

The map is enlivened–and the limits of the mapmaker’s knowledge concealed—by the insets depicting inhabitants of the Arctic and a whaling scene.

Moses Pitt’s English Atlas
This map was issued in the first volume of Pitt’s English Atlas, among the most ambitious publishing ventures of Restoration England. In the wake of the Anglo-Dutch Wars, English dependence on Dutch cartography had become a point of concern. With the support of Charles II and his brother James the Duke of York and future King, Pitt sought to remedy this with a multi-volume atlas to rival those of the great Amsterdam houses. His 1678 subscription proposal envisioned an eleven-volume work priced at 40 shillings per volume.

Subscriptions fell short, and Pitt was forced to rely largely on existing Dutch plates acquired from the heirs of Joannes Janssonius. As a result, the “Map of the North-Pole” offered here was one of the few English maps in his so-called “English” atlas. Financial difficulties mounted, and only four of the planned eleven volumes were completed. By 1685 Pitt was compelled to auction his stock, but the proceeds were insufficient and he was consigned to debtors’ prison. He remained there until shortly before his death in 1697.

References
Philip Lee Phillips, Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress, #2831 and 7785. Philip Lee Phillips, Maps of America in the Library of Congress, p. 116.