3 Review(s)

The Nautical Magazine first appeared in 1832, and was published monthly well into the twenty-first century. It covers a wide range of subjects, including navigation, meteorology, technology and safety. An important resource for maritime historians, it also includes reports on military and scientific expeditions and on current affairs. The 1847 volume has a strong Australasian focus, describing the already near-extinct New Zealand kakapo, the costume of one of the principal Maori chiefs and, in unflattering terms, the port of Auckland. Books reviewed include Joseph Beete Jukes' account of his surveying voyage to the Torres Strait and Sir John Barrow's autobiography (both available in the Cambridge Library Collection). There are articles on the Arctic and the Amazon (the latter translated from French), an essay on designs by Trevithick and others for steam engines and a piece congratulating Captain Becher (the magazine's editor) on his recently invented 'artificial horizon'.