Depot de la Marine
1922

Chart of the Oresund from Baltic Sea to Kattegat

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Mer Baltic. Le Sund d'apres les travaux Danois de 1886. Service Hydrographique de la Marine. 1892.

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Large 90+ year old nautical chart of the Oresund or sound connecting the Baltic Sea to the Kattegat and separating Sweden from Denmark. This plate is a 1922 edition of a French navigational chart first published in 1892. Large inset at left of the Port de Copenhague ( Copenhagen ) Denmark; small insets of Landskrona, Port d'Hoganas, Port de Raa, Port d'Elseneur, Port de Skanor, and Port d'Helsingborg.

Published by the French Naval Hydrographic Service which was the successor to the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine, founded in 1720. In 1971 it became known as the Naval Hydrographicand Oceanographic Service (service hydrographique et océanographique de la marine or SHOM).

Aids to navigation are highlighted in orange. Lower left corner contains two stamps: One inked stamp from the Service Hydrographique and the other a purple sticker from the mapseller: "V. Weizsaeker, Opticien de la Marine. 13 Rue du Quai, Dunkerque"The Depot de la Marine was established in 1720 under the French Ministry of the Navy to collect, preserve, and publish nautical charts, sailing directions, and maritime intelligence for the French naval service. Its purpose was both archival and practical: to centralize geographic knowledge gathered from voyages, surveys, and colonial administration, and to convert that information into standardized charts for navigation. Over the eighteenth century the Depot became the principal hydrographic authority of France, issuing engraved sea charts that incorporated data from naval expeditions, colonial outposts, and scientific voyages.

Following the French Revolution, the institution was reorganized and its chart production expanded, particularly during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as global maritime competition intensified. The Depot de la Marine supervised official surveys, revised earlier charts, and maintained copperplates for continued reissue as coastal knowledge improved. In 1886 it was formally reorganized as the Service hydrographique de la Marine, the predecessor of today’s French hydrographic office. Charts bearing the Depot imprint remain important records of French naval activity, colonial expansion, and the technical development of European hydrography.