Dr. Mac Culloch on the Chart of Shetland. 1 1 



pected that there is more accuracy in the places of rocks, whe- 

 ther visible or sunk, in which so many parts of the coasts of 

 Shetland abound. It is not too much to say, that, with very 

 trifling exceptions, the whole of them are incorrect; either by 

 reason of omissions, misplacement, or characters wrongly ex- 

 pressed. It will suffice here to mention a very few of the most 

 remarkable cases, as some of them will again come under notice 

 in pointing out the errors in laying down the harbours. How 

 important it is to be accurate in this part of every nautical 

 chart, it is quite unnecessary to remark. If there is one circum- 

 stance more than another which is a source of perpetual anxiety 

 and distrust to a vessel attempting to make a harbour, or navi- 

 gate a channel, it is a doubt respecting the place, existence, and 

 character of rocks ; and, more particularly, of those which are 

 not always visible. It does not, indeed, fall to the lot of many 

 manners to experience the anxiety that is felt by him whose 

 fate it is to navigate coasts of this nature ; but those whose 

 business it is to be often engaged among islands and channels 

 like these, know well the hourly risk to which they are subject, 

 where the space of one day alone exposes them to greater ha- 

 zard than could be crowded into a whole life spent in navigating 

 the ocean. It is not too much to say, that the circumnaviga- 

 tion of the Shetland Islands is attended with more hazard than 

 that of the globe. A correct chart would reduce that hazard to 

 little or nothing ; yet that is not only wanting, but the seaman 

 is exposed to the additional risk which must ever arise from the 

 necessity of placing confidence in one which is grossly er- 

 roneous. 



A number of sunk rocks are marked in this chart as lying 

 near to the Noull of Eswick ; whereas there is deep water here 

 close in shore, with a safe passage for ships of any draught be- 

 tween the How Stack and the land. 



Respecting the very intricate and dangerous navigation be- 

 tween Whalsey and the main land, or that on the east side of 

 this island, it is only necessary to say, that not a single rock is 

 rightly indicated ; the whole being such a scene of confusion in 

 the chart, that it is vain to attempt to specify the errors in 



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