Chesney, Francis Rawson (1789 - 1872)

1849

II. The River Euphrates from Sumeisat to Kal’at En Nejm.

J. & C. Walker

London

Atlas Map

47

63

253,440

Iraq

Syria

Middle East

II. The River Euphrates from Sumeisat to Kal’at En Nejm.

15662.002

2

Chesney, Francis Rawson (1789 - 1872)

1849

[Set of 12 Maps of the Euphrates-Tigris River System:] The Euphrates River… / The River Tigris… / The River Karun… / The Shatt el’Arab… [etc.].

British Library: General Reference Collection 10025.f.21. and X.570.; OCLC: 316378697; Dorsey D. JONES, ‘Chesney Chose the Euphrates Route’, The Historian 5, no. 1 (1942), pp. 5–23. Full text Vol 1 Expedition https://archive.org… Full text Vol 2 Expedition https://archive.org…

"Rare – the complete set of 12 connecting charts (that if joined would measure approx.. 2 x 4 metres!) showcasing the first scientific survey of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, the result of an incredible expedition led by Colonel Francis Rawson Chesney who traveled by steamboat 1,200 miles down the entire navigable length of the Euphrates, from Birecik, Turkey, down through Syria and Iraq, to the Persian Gulf, in order to prove the feasibility of a new short travel route between India and Britain; while the commercial exploitation of route never materialized, Chesney’s survey had a grand legacy, as its charts served as the authoritative source maps of the Euphrates an Tigris for decades, the blueprints for political, military and commercial activities and scientific and archaeological discovery – one of the great masterpieces of inland hydrography of the 19th century. In the 1830s, Britain was on the top of the world, having built a massive Asian empire consolidated upon its domination the Indian Subcontinent. However, it had a major challenge in that the established transport routes from Britain to India were either incredibly long (around the Cape of Good Hope) or unpleasant and dangerous (traversing Egypt’s Suez Isthmus overland and traveling down the pirate-infested Red Sea route). Enter Colonel (later General) Francis Rawson Chesney (1789 - 1872), an extremely enterprising British army officer. He politically well-connected, being the protégé of Lord Rawdon (later the 1st Marquess of Hastings) who served as the Governor-General of India (1813-23). In 1829, Chesney was sent on a special mission to the Ottoman Empire, whereupon he made many reconnaissance surveys. This led him to draft a well-reasoned proposal to build a canal across the Suez Isthmus that later proved highly influential (Ferdinand de Lesseps, who eventually completed the Suez Canal in 1869, addressed Chesney the “father” of the canal when they met in Paris). However, it was clear that during the 1830s the technical and financial resources, let alone the right political circumstances, were not right for building such a grand project. Chesney next prosed to the British government that they should consider creating a travel corridor from India to Europe via the Euphrates River, which ran for 2,800 from the highlands of eastern Anatolia down through the Syria and Iraq, before meeting the Tigris, forming the Shatt-al-Arab, before entering the Persian Gulf at the border of Ottoman Iraq and Persia. This river was known to be navigable for many hundreds of kilometres above the sea, while its tributary, the Tigris, was navigable up to Baghdad. As the relatively new technology of steamships was then revolutionizing global travel, he proposed that shallow draft steamships could be used to travel from the Persian Gulf up into Anatolia, and that from there passengers and freight could travel overland to the Mediterranean. Eventually, a railway could be built from the head of the navigation of the Euphrates to the Mediterranean, although that would be well into the future. Id realized, this plan would create by far and away the shortest distance travel route between India and Britain. The Euphrates route was also geopolitically convenient for London, as not only was the weak Ottoman Empire malleable (desperately seeking cooperation with Britain), but a British operation to protect a permanent travel route up through Mesopotamia and Anatolia would act as a deterrent to Russian aggression in the greater region (Britain and Russia were then squaring off in the first Cold War, ‘The Great Game’). While the Euphrates was then navigable for up to 1,200 miles above its embouchure, the Euphrates and Tigris had never been surveyed in serious, scientific fashion, such that the nature and extent of the navigability of these great streams was not known. Beginning in 1832, Chesney fiercely lobbied Whitehall for funds and resources to mount steamship expedition down the entire navigable length of the Euphrates, methodically mapping the river and its major tributaries, as well as conducting scientific and cultural research. Fortunately, he had friends in high places; it helped that King William IV, a career naval officer, was very enthusiastic about the project. In 1834, Chesney’s plan was approved by the government and Parliament voted to give £20,000 to find the project, then a very large sum. Two prefabricated steamboats of an ingenuous design, that could be disassembled and reconfigured, were custom-built for the expedition in Liverpool by the firm of John Laird. The vessels were fittingly named the Euphrates and the Tigris. Chesney managed to recruit an all-star team of military officers and scientists to guide the technical and academic aspects of the mission. This included the explorer Henry Blosse Lynch of the Indian Navy and the geologist William Francis Ainsworth, president of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh. He also assembled a crew from the Royal Artillery, Royal Sappers and Miners with professional skills and field experience in operating steam machinery, surveying and drawing. Chesney and his team were enthusiastic not just about mapping the Euphrates but also about the ethnographic, scientific and religious studies that the trip afforded, as “the country about the sources of the Euphrates and Tigris was the seat of [Biblical] Paradise!”. However, Lord Ellenbourgh, the president of the Board of Control for India, reminded the team that they should “always bear in mind that [the practicability of navigating the Euphrates] is the one object of your expedition, and that scientific inquiries, however interesting, are no to be allowed to detain you”. Chesney and his party set out from England for the Mediterranean early in 1835, arriving at the Gulf of Iskenderun, on the frontier of Anatolia and Syria, in March of that year. The men transported their equipment and the disassembled steamships over 140 miles of rough terrain to Bir (Birecik in modern Turkey), on the banks of the Euphrates. There, they created an improvised shipyard and assembled the vessels. They then set out down the river from a point that was about 1,200 miles above the sea. As the river’s course was little known, the trip proved extremely dangerous, as they had to negotiate a variety of hazards, even though navigable passages were always inevitably revealed. While Chesney was careful to maintain good relations with the Kurdish, Assyrian and Arab tribes that resided along the banks of the rivers (forging links that would be vital if a regular river transport corridor were to be opened), misunderstandings almost resulted in tragic altercations on several occasions. Worst of all, the Tigris was lost, vanishing during a sudden, freak storm, with it and its crew never to be seen again! Yet, the expedition persisted (fortunately Chesney and the principals of the expedition survived, as they were aboard the Euphrates). All along the way, Chesney and his men conducted exacting systematic hydrographic surveys to the highest standards. Geodetic basepoints at key junctures were ascertained by astronomical observations, while careful bathymetric soundings and accounts of the currents were taken. Observations were made of magnetic deviation and meteorology, while the party gathered geological, botanical and biological specimens. They also carefully recorded archeological sites, as well as taking careful notes on the local tribes, so executing the first comprehensive scientific reconnaissance of Mesopotamia. In addition to mapping the entire navigable length of the Euphrates from Birecik to the Persian Gulf, the party ascend the Tigris River for the Shatt-Al-Arab up to Baghdad, mapping the river with same care. Towards the end of the expedition, a side party ascended the Karun River, in Persia, which was major tributary of the Shatt-Al-Arab. The entire expedition was completed in early 1837. Critically, Chesney and his team had proved that the Euphrates was navigable for steamships from the Persian Gulf all the way up to Birecik, which was only 140 miles from the Mediterranean. This opened what was by far and away the shortest route from India to Britain (especially if a railway could someday be constructed between Birecik and Iskenderun). Chesney returned to London later in 1837, with has manuscript maps, watercolours, sketches and notes. His endeavor was immediately hailed as a tour de force, and many in government were highly enthusiastic about open the Euphrates India-Britain route. However, Britain soon became involved in the horrific disaster of the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42), which distracted the powers that be from pressing on with the Euphrates project. Moreover, for much of the 1840s, Chesney was deployed to serve in the Far East and so had trouble finding the spare time to work on publishing his maps and papers, let alone lobby for its advancement. Thus, the Euphrates plan remained ‘on ice’ during what was a decisive period. By the time that Chesney’s lavish account of the Euphrates expedition (including the present charts) were published in London in 1849-50, much of the momentum that once existed behind the Euphrates plan had dissipated. Ironically, it was Chesney’s 1829 feasibility study for the Suez Canal that ultimately killed his Euphrates plan, for his ideas for the former were adopted by his admirer Ferdinand de Lesseps who commenced the Suez Canal project in the 1850s, so rendering the Euphrates travel corridor obsolete (the Suez Canal would be inaugurated in 1869). However, Chesney’s endeavour had a long and consequential legacy, in that his charts of the Euphrates and Tigris remained the base maps for the rivers for many decades, used by government officials of various states, merchants, scientists, and archeologists, as the blueprints for great ventures and discoveries. Notably, in the 1860s, British soldiers, who were running the lines for the overland telegraph route from India to Europe through Iraq, used Chesney’s charts as guides. Indeed, on a technical level, his work would not be superseded until the early 20th century. Importantly, the Euphrates and Tigris had from the early 20th century onwards been, in parts, dammed, drained and redirected, in addition to any natural changes in their courses, so radically transforming their nature. Chesney’s charts this are incomparable records of a bygone era, showing the rivers’ former courses and what then remained of ancient Mesopotamian civilizations before unnumerable amazing archaeological sites were severely disturbed by modernity. The Present Charts in Focus Present here is a very rare complete set of the first printing of Chesney’s 12 connecting charts of the navigable stretches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, representing one of the greatest technical achievements of inland hydrography of the 19th century. If joined, the sheets would form a mega-chart of irregular dimensions with approximate maximum measurements of 2 x 4 metres. A masterpiece of scientific surveying, the charts are all executed to the uniform large scale of 4 miles to an inch. They meticulously map the contours of the rivers, regulated by marked astronomical observations and trigonometrical surveys, while bathymetric soundings dot the navigable routes, with all major features, both natural (hills, swamps, headlands, etc.) and manmade (villages, major buildings, roads, etc.) being carefully depicted. The nature of the vegetation and agriculture (ex. farm fields, palm groves) is shown, while Chesney notes the locations of the various tribes that inhabit the banks of the rivers, critical information, as maintaining good relations with the locals would be vital to anyone seeking to traverse the region. The circumstances surrounding the publication of the charts is bit hazy, although there is evidence that the 12 charts, were issued separately by the eminent firm of J. & C. Walker, who was the official printer for the British Admiralty and the East India Company. However, they were more commonly issued along with Chesney’ text volumes, The Expedition for The Survey of The Rivers Euphrates and Tigris, Carried on by Order of The British Government, in The Years 1835, 1836, and 1837; Preceded by Geographical and Historical Notices of The Regions situated between The Rivers Nile and Indus (Published by Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans., London, 1850), as part of the accompanying atlas that featured “fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts”. The present set of the charts is beautifully backed on white silk and was perhaps a separately issued set. The charts, especially as a complete set of 12 sheets, only very seldom ever appear on the market (perhaps only once every ten years or so), either alone, or as part of the assembly of Chesney’s text volumes and atlas." (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023)

15662.000

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Chesney, Francis Rawson (1789 - 1872)