Carte de l'Isle de la Barbade.

A large engraved nautical chart,also showing the division of the Parishes, towns and fortifications. An exceptional onboard document of this rare and fabulous maritime atlas, a masterpiece by the greatest French hydrographer of the 18th century, with maps of all the coastlines known at the time.
Bound with the coat of arms of the King of France, the atlas was taken by the English aboard the frigate la Nymphe, off the coasts of Ushant August 10, 1780, during one of the naval battles of the American War of Independence which took place on European waters.
In the context of the war at the end of the 18th century, and of the rivalry between the French and British Navy, maritime atlases, were strategic tools, and this “Hydrographie Françoise” more so than any other, because its purpose was to provide the best maritime charts for the French ships that were fighting on the American side against the British.