Flying fish
Date
October 1699
Creator
Edmond Halley (1656 - 1742, British) , Astronomer
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p50
Material
Dimensions
height (paper): 76mm
width (paper): 206mm
width (paper): 206mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Side view of a variety of flying fish (Exocoetidae) with inscription: 'A Flying Fish taken in the sight of Palm'.
This is one of a set of sketches Edmond Halley made during his voyage to the South Atlantic as captain of the Paramore (September 1699- September 1700), which was tasked to take readings of the variations of the magnetic needle in the Atlantic Ocean to improve navigation. (See Alan H. Cook, Edmond Halley: Charting the Heavens and the Seas (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), pp. 256-91.)
Paramore arrived at La Palma (Canaries) on 15 October 1699. (See The Three Voyages of Edmond Halley in the Paramore, 1698-1701, ed. by J. Norman and W. Thrower, 2 vols (London: Hakluyt Society, 1981), I, 130.)
On his return, Halley submitted his sketches to a meeting of the Royal Society on 6 November 1700. The sketches were placed in the Repository.
This is one of a set of sketches Edmond Halley made during his voyage to the South Atlantic as captain of the Paramore (September 1699- September 1700), which was tasked to take readings of the variations of the magnetic needle in the Atlantic Ocean to improve navigation. (See Alan H. Cook, Edmond Halley: Charting the Heavens and the Seas (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), pp. 256-91.)
Paramore arrived at La Palma (Canaries) on 15 October 1699. (See The Three Voyages of Edmond Halley in the Paramore, 1698-1701, ed. by J. Norman and W. Thrower, 2 vols (London: Hakluyt Society, 1981), I, 130.)
On his return, Halley submitted his sketches to a meeting of the Royal Society on 6 November 1700. The sketches were placed in the Repository.
Transcription
A Flying Fish taken in the sight of Palm.
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Object history
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 6 November, 1700, '[Captain Halley] produced several sketches of fishes, and of the Batavian Islands, for which he was thanked, and the sketches ordered to be put into the Repository. The fishes were of two sorts of flying fish &c.' JBO/10/198.
Associated place