THE EVOLUTION OF THE MARINE CHART 37 



only conspicuous feature on the east coast is the Humber, and 

 even the projection of East AngUa is omitted. The west coast is 

 even less adequately delineated ; the peninsula of North Wales 

 is lacking, and the coast beyond is represented by a large semi- 

 circular bay. As southern England is much too small compared 

 with the rest of the country, it is plain that a piece of relatively 

 accurate survey has been fitted to an older highly generalized 

 outline of the whole island. Scotland appears almost severed 

 from England by two rivers, a feature which recalls the 

 Matthew Paris maps. 



The source of this knowledge of southern England is to be 

 sought in the development of commercial relations between 

 the city states of north Italy and western Europe. The annual 

 fleet, known as the 'Flanders galleys', which sailed from 

 Venice to the Low Countries, is first mentioned in 1317. Part 

 of this fleet traded at Southampton, Sandwich, and London. 

 It is said that Vesconte was consulted by the Venetian authori- 

 ties when the fleet was being organized. He would therefore be 

 well placed to obtain from the commanders of the galleys on 

 their return the results of their observations along the English 

 coast. This would account for the improvement shown by the 

 chart of 1327 in comparison with the 'Carte Pisane'. Through- 

 out the century, no essential change was made in this outline; 

 the variants appear to show deterioration from the original 

 model, rather than fresh sources of information. At the begin- 

 ning of the fifteenth century, however, the outline of the 

 southern coast was improved, as may be seen on the chart of 

 G. Pasqualini, Venice, 1408. If the above hypothesis is correct, 

 it tends to show that a considerable stretch of coast could be 

 surveyed and incorporated in charts within a few years. The 

 charting of the Mediterranean might therefore have been the 

 result of surveys carried out in a relatively short period of 

 time, without much reliance upon the work of preceding cen- 

 turies. Charles de la Ronciere suggested that the Genoese 

 admiral, Benedetto Zaccaria, had the opportunity of initiating 

 and supervising such a survey, for he successively commanded 

 the Byzantine, Genoese, Castilian, and French fleets. In the 

 latter capacity he was actually in charge of French naval 

 operations against England in 1298. There is however no direct 



