Old Maps, Ships, & Sea Monsters: A Dangerous Combination by C her Van D uze r
T
e history of sea mo nsters on maps is a long one. We have good reaso n to believe that Ro man m aps included sea m onsters, even though almost no maps survive from classical antiquity. The Ro man poet O vid in hi s Metamorphoses, which he co mpleted around the yea r 8, describes the gates of the Palace of •"t 'l1 he Sun , on which there is a m ap-like image of the wo rld . This ""-"c''- ,M_ q,~1UAi: ORJ)" 1•A1t11. NovA, image includes va rious sea creatures and m onsters in the ocean that surrounds the la nds, includin g whales and fish carrying deities on their backs. Ir is temp ting to thin k th at this descrip tio n was inspired by Rom a n wo rld maps that O vid had seen that included depictions of sea monsters. O n surviving medieval maps, sea monsters are fo und o n those fro m the tenth century onward , a nd, until the seventeenth century, are com mon on larger and more elaborately decorated maps. The depiction of ships on m aps has a similarly long and illustrious history, a nd ma ny m edieval and Renaissance m aps h ave depictions of both sea m on sters and ships. Yer, there is a tension betwee n these two sets of imagery: dep iction s of ships on m aps proclaim the ability of humans to nav igate safely across the m ain- they are images of confidence-while depictions of sea m onsters testify to the dangers of the deep, the perils of the unknown, and uncertainties implicit in any voyage across the wa tery element. So it is natu ral fo r ships and sea monsters to come into conflict on m aps, and in this article I will illustrate and discuss several examples of th at conflict. Sometimes maps show the prelude to the monster's arrack on ships. In this close-up (below) from Diego G utierrez's m ap of the A mericas "1he Americas, or A New and Precise D escription of the Fourth Part of the World" (1562) by Diego Gutierrez and engraver H ieronymus Cock. In the detail (below), a sea monster is threatening ships in the North Atlantic. Gutierrez had been commissioned by the King ofSpain to produce a large-scale map of the western hemisphere. H e was the first cartographer to apply the name "California" on a published map. H ieronymus Cock, the engraver from Antwerp, is credited with having added the artistic flourishes and mythical creatures.
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SEA HISTORY 150, SPRING 2015