Karamania: Or, A Brief Description of the South Coast of Asia-Minor and of the Remains of Antiquity

Remembered for devising the measure of wind speed that bears his name, the naval officer and hydrographer Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857) also had a hand in the production of more than a thousand nautical charts over the course of his career. In 1810 he had been appointed to command the frigate Frederikssteen by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. His mission was to explore 'Karamania', a contemporary European term for the shores of southern Turkey. For two years Beaufort charted the coastline and investigated its classical ruins before his work was brought to an end in 1812 by a Turkish attack which left him wounded. Returning to England, Beaufort set about drawing up the charts of his survey and documenting his findings, publishing this work in 1817, complete with engraved maps and plates. Experts and laypeople received the book favourably, as it shed much light on an underexplored region.