Rutter (nautical)
Encyclopedia
A rutter is a mariner's handbook of written sailing directions. Before the advent of nautical chart
s, rutters were the primary store of geographic information for maritime navigation
.
It was known as a periplus
("sailing-around" book) in Classical antiquity
and a portolano ("port book") to Medieval Italian sailors in the Mediterranean Sea
. Portuguese navigators of the 16th C. called it a roteiro, the French a routier, from which the English word "rutter" is derived. In Dutch, it was called a leeskarte ("reading chart") and in German a Seebuch ("sea book").
s and pilot
s. Plotting a course at sea required knowing the direction and distance between point A and point B. Knowledge of where places lay relative to each other was acquired by mariners during their long experience at sea.
The earliest periplus
es of classical antiquity were not necessarily written as practical navigational handbooks. Some were more akin to an adventure travelogue, to celebrate a famous voyage. Others were disguised as such, notably the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax
from the 4th C. BCE, which described the harbors and landmarks along the north African coast west of the Nile delta
. Still others were designed as commercial guides for merchants, such as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
, written around 100 BCE by a Greek merchant in Egypt, as a guide to the market ports of the Red Sea
and Indian Ocean
.
The re-emergence of maritime commerce in the Mediterranean Sea
during the Middle Ages
(12th–13th centuries), spearheaded by Italian ports like Amalfi
, Pisa
, Genoa
and Venice
, led to the rise of a new set of handbooks, known as portolani ("port books"), designed for the practical use of mariners. These were likely first compiled by professional mariners and pilots, probably as a mnemonic set of notes for their own personal use. These notes were probably passed secretly within their profession ranks, from master to apprentice. Only a few of these Italian handbooks were made public, and even fewer have survived to this day. The most complete surviving portolano is the famous Il compasso da navigare, written c.1250 and published in Genoa
in 1296.
In their sailing instructions, Medieval portolan handbooks distinguished between various types of routes, e.g. per starea (coastal cabotage
), per peleggio (open-sea sailing between two points). Portolan handbooks expressed their sailing directions in terms compass rose
points and distances. The reliance on the magnetic compass (an instrument that only really began being used for navigation in the 13th C.) distinguishes the Medieval portolano from the earlier Classical periplus.
It is believed that the nautical chart
s that suddenly emerged in Genoa
, Venice
, Majorca and other maritime centers after the late 13th C. were constructed from the written information contained in contemporary written pilot handbooks, hence the term portolan chart
s. The wealth of detail contained in portolano handbooks is reflected in the portolan charts, stunningly accurate even by modern standards.
Handbooks often contained a wealth of information beyond sailing directions. For instance, they frequently had detailed physical descriptions of shorelines, harbors, islands, channels, notes about tides, landmarks, reefs, shoals and difficult entries, instructions on how to use navigational instruments to determine position and plot routes, calendars, astronomical tables, mathematical tables and calculation rules (notably the rule of marteloio
), lists of customs regulations at different ports, medical recipes, instructions on ship repair, etc. As a result, the nautical chart never fully replaced the handbook, but remained suppementary to it.
Among notable rutters is the Grand Routier, written by the French pilot Pierre Garcie, c.1483 and published in 1502–3, which focused on the shores of the Bay of Biscay
and the English Channel
, and its peculiarities. Translated into English as the Rutter of the Sea in 1528, it was reprinted many times, and remained the pre-eminent rutter used by English sailors for decades.
Perhaps the most dramatic rutter was the 1595 Reysgheschrift by Dutch sailor Jan Huygen van Linschoten. Having sailed to the Asia aboard Portuguese ships, Linschoten publicized the sailing directions to the East Indies that had been assiduously kept secret by the Portuguese for nearly a century. The publication of Lischoten's rutter was an explosive sensation, and launched the race by a myriad of Dutch and English companies for the East Indies in its aftermath.
Nautical chart
A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a maritime area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land , natural features of the seabed, details of the coastline, navigational hazards, locations of natural and man-made aids...
s, rutters were the primary store of geographic information for maritime navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
.
It was known as a periplus
Periplus
Periplus is the Latinization of an ancient Greek word, περίπλους , literally "a sailing-around." Both segments, peri- and -plous, were independently productive: the ancient Greek speaker understood the word in its literal sense; however, it developed a few specialized meanings, one of which became...
("sailing-around" book) in Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
and a portolano ("port book") to Medieval Italian sailors in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. Portuguese navigators of the 16th C. called it a roteiro, the French a routier, from which the English word "rutter" is derived. In Dutch, it was called a leeskarte ("reading chart") and in German a Seebuch ("sea book").
History
Before the advent of nautical charts in the 14th C., navigation at sea relied on the accumulated knowledge of navigatorNavigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
s and pilot
Maritime pilot
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. With the exception of the Panama Canal, the pilot is only an advisor, as the captain remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel....
s. Plotting a course at sea required knowing the direction and distance between point A and point B. Knowledge of where places lay relative to each other was acquired by mariners during their long experience at sea.
The earliest periplus
Periplus
Periplus is the Latinization of an ancient Greek word, περίπλους , literally "a sailing-around." Both segments, peri- and -plous, were independently productive: the ancient Greek speaker understood the word in its literal sense; however, it developed a few specialized meanings, one of which became...
es of classical antiquity were not necessarily written as practical navigational handbooks. Some were more akin to an adventure travelogue, to celebrate a famous voyage. Others were disguised as such, notably the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax
Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax
The Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax is an ancient Greek periplus that ranks among the minor Greek geographers, dating from 4th or 3rd century BC. The name of Scylax applied to the text is thought to be a pseudepigraphical appeal to authority: Herodotus mentions a Scylax of Caryanda, a Greek navigator...
from the 4th C. BCE, which described the harbors and landmarks along the north African coast west of the Nile delta
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...
. Still others were designed as commercial guides for merchants, such as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea or Periplus of the Red Sea is a Greco-Roman periplus, written in Greek, describing navigation and trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports like Berenice along the coast of the Red Sea, and others along Northeast Africa and India...
, written around 100 BCE by a Greek merchant in Egypt, as a guide to the market ports of the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
and Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
.
The re-emergence of maritime commerce in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
(12th–13th centuries), spearheaded by Italian ports like Amalfi
Amalfi
Amalfi is a town and comune in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno, c. 35 km southeast of Naples. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto , surrounded by dramatic cliffs and coastal scenery...
, Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
, Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, led to the rise of a new set of handbooks, known as portolani ("port books"), designed for the practical use of mariners. These were likely first compiled by professional mariners and pilots, probably as a mnemonic set of notes for their own personal use. These notes were probably passed secretly within their profession ranks, from master to apprentice. Only a few of these Italian handbooks were made public, and even fewer have survived to this day. The most complete surviving portolano is the famous Il compasso da navigare, written c.1250 and published in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
in 1296.
In their sailing instructions, Medieval portolan handbooks distinguished between various types of routes, e.g. per starea (coastal cabotage
Cabotage
Cabotage is the transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country by a vessel or an aircraft registered in another country. Originally starting with shipping, cabotage now also covers aviation, railways and road transport...
), per peleggio (open-sea sailing between two points). Portolan handbooks expressed their sailing directions in terms compass rose
Compass rose
A compass rose, sometimes called a windrose, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions — North, East, South and West - and their intermediate points. It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional...
points and distances. The reliance on the magnetic compass (an instrument that only really began being used for navigation in the 13th C.) distinguishes the Medieval portolano from the earlier Classical periplus.
It is believed that the nautical chart
Nautical chart
A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a maritime area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land , natural features of the seabed, details of the coastline, navigational hazards, locations of natural and man-made aids...
s that suddenly emerged in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Majorca and other maritime centers after the late 13th C. were constructed from the written information contained in contemporary written pilot handbooks, hence the term portolan chart
Portolan chart
Portolan charts are navigational maps based on realistic descriptions of harbours and coasts. They were first made in the 14th century in Italy, Portugal and Spain...
s. The wealth of detail contained in portolano handbooks is reflected in the portolan charts, stunningly accurate even by modern standards.
Handbooks often contained a wealth of information beyond sailing directions. For instance, they frequently had detailed physical descriptions of shorelines, harbors, islands, channels, notes about tides, landmarks, reefs, shoals and difficult entries, instructions on how to use navigational instruments to determine position and plot routes, calendars, astronomical tables, mathematical tables and calculation rules (notably the rule of marteloio
Rule of marteloio
thumb|300px|The tondo e quadro from [[Andrea Bianco]]'s 1436 atlasThe rule of marteloio is a medieval technique of navigational computation that uses compass direction, distance and a simple trigonometric table known as the toleta de marteloio...
), lists of customs regulations at different ports, medical recipes, instructions on ship repair, etc. As a result, the nautical chart never fully replaced the handbook, but remained suppementary to it.
Among notable rutters is the Grand Routier, written by the French pilot Pierre Garcie, c.1483 and published in 1502–3, which focused on the shores of the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
and the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, and its peculiarities. Translated into English as the Rutter of the Sea in 1528, it was reprinted many times, and remained the pre-eminent rutter used by English sailors for decades.
Perhaps the most dramatic rutter was the 1595 Reysgheschrift by Dutch sailor Jan Huygen van Linschoten. Having sailed to the Asia aboard Portuguese ships, Linschoten publicized the sailing directions to the East Indies that had been assiduously kept secret by the Portuguese for nearly a century. The publication of Lischoten's rutter was an explosive sensation, and launched the race by a myriad of Dutch and English companies for the East Indies in its aftermath.
Notable rutters
- Periplus of Pseudo-ScylaxPeriplus of Pseudo-ScylaxThe Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax is an ancient Greek periplus that ranks among the minor Greek geographers, dating from 4th or 3rd century BC. The name of Scylax applied to the text is thought to be a pseudepigraphical appeal to authority: Herodotus mentions a Scylax of Caryanda, a Greek navigator...
(4th c. BCE, Greek)
- Periplus of the Erythraean SeaPeriplus of the Erythraean SeaThe Periplus of the Erythraean Sea or Periplus of the Red Sea is a Greco-Roman periplus, written in Greek, describing navigation and trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports like Berenice along the coast of the Red Sea, and others along Northeast Africa and India...
(100 BCE, Egyptian)
- Liber de existencia riveriarum et Forma Maris Nostri Mediterranei (c. 1160–1200, Pisan)
- Il compasso da navigare (1296, Genoese)
- Grant Routtier et pilotage de la mer (c.1483, by Pierre Garcie, French)
- Cornaro AtlasCornaro AtlasThe Cornaro Atlas is an extensive Venetian collection of nautical charts and tracts, currently held by the British Library.- Background :The Cornaro Atlas is an 80-page Venetian manuscript volume, estimated to date c.1489...
(c. 1489, Venetian)
- Das Seebuch von Karl Koppmann (late 15th c., Karl Koppmann, Low German)
- Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis (c.1509, by Duarte Pacheco PereiraDuarte Pacheco PereiraDuarte Pacheco Pereira, called the Great, was a 15th century Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde islands, along the coast of West Africa and to India...
, Portuguese)
- Livro de Marinharia (c.1514, by João de Lisboa, Portuguese)
- Reysgheschrift vande navigatien der Portugaloysers in Orienten (1595, Jan Huygen van Linschoten, Dutch).
Sources
- Aczel, A.D. (2001) The Riddle of the Compass: the invention that changed the world. New York: Harcourt.
- Brown, L.A. (1949) The Story of Maps. 1979 edition, New York: Dover.
- Campbell, T. (1987) ""Portolan charts from the late thirteenth century to 1500", in J.B. Harley and D. Woodward, editors, The History of Cartography, Vol. 1 – Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 371–63 online (PDF)
- Campbell, T. (2011) "A critical re-examination of early portolan charts with a reassessment of their replication and seaboard function" (online)
- Cotter, C.H. (1983) "A Brief History of Sailing Directions", Journal of Navigation, Vol. 36, p. 249–51.
- Edson, E. (2007) The World Map, 1300–1492: the persistence of tradition and transformation. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Koeman, C. (1985) "Jan Huygen van Linschoten", Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, Vol. 32, p. 27–47. offprint
- Lanman, J.T. (1987) On the Origin of Portolan Charts. Chicago: Newberry.
- Markham, A.H., editor, (1880) The Voyages and Works of John Davis, the Navigator, London: Hakluyt. online
- Nordenskiöld, Adolf Erik (1897) Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of Charts and Sailing Directions, tr. Frances A. Bather, Stockholm: Norstedt.
- Parry, J.H. (1963) The Age of Reconnaisance: Discovery, exploraiton and settlement, 1450 to 1650. 1981 edition, Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Schmidt, B. (2001) Innocence Abroad: the Dutch imagination and the New World, 1570–1670. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Stevenson, E.L. (1911) Portolan charts; their origin and characteristics: with a descriptive list of those belonging to the Hispanic society of America. New York: Knickerbocker Press. online
- Taylor, E.G.R. (1951) "The Oldest Mediterranean Pilot", Journal of Navigation, Vol. 4 (1), p. 81–85.
- Taylor, E.G.R. (1956) The Haven-Finding Art: A history of navigation from Odysseus to Captain Cook, 1971 ed., London: Hollis and Carter.
- Waters, D.W. (1985) "English navigational books, charts and globes printed down to 1600", Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, Vol. 33, p. 239–57. offprint