Terrestrial table globe

Terrestrial table globe. It forms a pair with the celestial globe, Morden, Berry and Lea GLB0165. Geographical details on the sphere include loxodromes for 32 compass points. The Great Wall of China is depicted and California is drawn as an island. Australia is drawn according to the Dutch discoveries, but 'Diemens Land', now known as Tasmania, is in the wrong location. There is no hypothetical southern continent.

An address to the reader appears on a label pasted inside a decorative cartouche. Part of the text is illegible due to damage but some of it reads: 'To the Reader / Think it not strange that the Description of / this globe differs so much from all other Globes / extent / & adjusted; not only by the late discoyeries, / but also by Trigonometrical calcula: / tion & the more accurate Celestiall / Observations of Modern Authers'.

Tracks of the voyages by Drake and Cavendish are shown with labels. There are decorations of ships and monsters in the ocean, and in South America a large group of local inhabitants is shown. Seven oceans are named. The missing text of the address to the reader is from the terrestrial globe by Morden, Berry and Lea in the Whipple Museum, Cambridge. For full details about the cartography and construction of this globe please refer to the related publication.

Object Details

ID: GLB0164
Collection: Astronomical and navigational instruments; Charts and maps
Type: Table globe
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Morden, Robert; Berry, William Lea, Philip
Date made: circa 1685
People: Drake, Francis; Cavendish, Thomas Davies, John
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Caird Fund.
Measurements: Overall: 555 x 520 mm; Diameter of sphere: 360 mm; Diameter of Meridian Ring: 392 mm