(Vol. ix., p. 103.)
Statements and complaints have often been made respecting the imperfect
knowledge possessed by English navigators of the shores and coasts of the
Black Sea, and of the great danger thence arising to ships and fleets from
England, which would thus seem to be without the charts necessary for their
guidance. _The Guardian_ newspaper reiterates these complaints in its
number for Jan. 11. This deficiency of charts, however, ought not to exist,
and probably does not; since, no doubt, the English and French Governments
would take care to supply them at the present time. As respects England,
Dr. E. D. Clarke, in his well-known _Travels in Russia, &c._ (see vol. i.
4th edit., 8vo., London, 1816, Preface, p. x.), states that he brought--
"Certain documents with him from Odessa, at the hazard of his life, and
deposited within a British Admiralty."
These documents, we are led naturally to infer, were charts; for he adds:
"They may serve to facilitate the navigation of the Russian coasts of
the Black Sea, if ever the welfare of Great Britain should demand the
presence of her fleets in that part of the world."
Happening to meet with this passage, in consulting Dr. Clarke's _Travels_,
at the beginning of December, when the Fleets of Great Britain and France
were on the point of entering the Black Sea, and having read in many
quarters fears expressed for the fleets from the want of charts, I ventured
to copy out the passage relating to these remarkable documents, and sent it
to Lord Aberdeen; in case, from the alleged poverty of charts in the
Admiralty Catalogues (see _The Guardian_, Jan. 11.), Dr. Clarke's
"documents" should have fallen out of sight, and were forgotten. No notice,
however, was taken of my communication; from which I concluded that it was
wholly valueless.