How old are your paper charts?

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Cathy*

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I'm sorting through my old charts. Most of them never see the light of day. I use them for keeping track of where we are and for if the chart plotter fails but the plotter is used for planning and navigation. Some of them date back to 1989 and the most recent is 2015. Apart from dredging in the rivers does much change to affect leisure boaters? Should I just grit my teeth and chuck the lot and buy new for where we want to go now? (South coast uk)
 
Kukri said:
Last correction no. 810 of 1970. Do I win?

I keep it in the chart table to shock people and to show the Yoof of Today what a fathoms chart looked like.
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Not quite. The oldest one I have aboard (sorry, can't photo it) is Admiralty 474 'Nomuka Group, Tonga', corrected to Dec. 59. Last used by me in 2011. Isn't much point in updating it, since the surveys are still C19th.

Curiously, this chart is now only available as NGA 83563, while the number 474 has been reassigned as a chart of Trinidad,
 
AndrewB said:
Not quite. The oldest one I have aboard (sorry, can't photo it) is Admiralty 474 'Nomuka Group, Tonga', corrected to Dec. 59. Last used by me in 2011. Isn't much point in updating it, since the surveys are still C19th.

Curiously, this chart is now only available as NGA 83563, while the number 474 has been reassigned as a chart of Trinidad,
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That has a big birthday coming up you should have a party.
 
Probably wouldnt dare ask this question in a forum frequented by wafis you be burned at the stake for suggesting your paper charts and sextant aren't your main means of navigation.
 
tillergirl said:
16th February, 1903 - in colour too! Reynolds colured chart of the Thames Estaury extending to Harwich and Ramsgate 4s 6d.
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I imagine 4s 6d was quite a lot of money in its day.

I was sailing across to the Netherlands in the 1980s, vaguely in company with a few other yachts. One of them radioed to say he couldn't find one of the main buoys he'd planned to see en route. Another of the group pointed out it had been moved a few years before, and gave the new position. It turned out the chart the first chap was using still had minefields marked on it!
 
As a point of interest the Military task force which sailed down to the Falkland conflict in 1982 were still using the original charts drawn up by Captain Cook mid 1700 with notary updates from a well known Royal Marine who had done some sailing round the islands.
 
Just been gifted some paper folio charts of Solent ports from circa 2000 having always relied on electronic for traversing the lake but will be interesting to study again at home having last used in days of headed 70s days of Centaur sailing. I wonder if much has changed save for Portsmouth approaches ?
 
ashtead said:
Just been gifted some paper folio charts of Solent ports from circa 2000 having always relied on electronic for traversing the lake but will be interesting to study again at home having last used in days of headed 70s days of Centaur sailing. I wonder if much has changed save for Portsmouth approaches ?
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RN no longer carry paper charts but they do have more sophisticated electronics than our old Garmin.

We're moving from Plymouth to the Solent having never ventured further east than Torquay so they are the charts I'm most interested in. Apart from dredging for the new ship I'm hoping nothing has changed.

I'm stopping reading guides for the area now as they all warn how busy it is and I'm scaring myself.
 
LittleSister said:
I imagine 4s 6d was quite a lot of money in its day.
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I was going to say the same, you beat me to it! Without checking, I would imagine that it’s today’s equivalent of hundreds of pounds. I’m amazed that anyone would have published a chart at that price, I’d guess not many were sold!
 
longjohnsilver said:
I was going to say the same, you beat me to it! Without checking, I would imagine that it’s today’s equivalent of hundreds of pounds. I’m amazed that anyone would have published a chart at that price, I’d guess not many were sold!
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Actually not too bad ---£27.21
 
longjohnsilver said:
I was going to say the same, you beat me to it! Without checking, I would imagine that it’s today’s equivalent of hundreds of pounds. I’m amazed that anyone would have published a chart at that price, I’d guess not many were sold!
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There wasn't many yachtsmen in 1903! The quality of the paper is remarkable. The Estuary is quite different though!
 
Cathy* said:
RN no longer carry paper charts but they do have more sophisticated electronics than our old Garmin.

We're moving from Plymouth to the Solent having never ventured further east than Torquay so they are the charts I'm most interested in. Apart from dredging for the new ship I'm hoping nothing has changed.

I'm stopping reading guides for the area now as they all warn how busy it is and I'm scaring myself.
Click to expand...

I find that old charts are still relevant as long as you don't navigate to the nearest metre. The buoys move around a bit to reflect shifting sandbanks, etc but are generally in the 'same position'. Having an up to date almanac on board means that you can double check things.
 
Boathook said:
I find that old charts are still relevant as long as you don't navigate to the nearest metre. The buoys move around a bit to reflect shifting sandbanks, etc but are generally in the 'same position'. Having an up to date almanac on board means that you can double check things.
Click to expand...

Come and have a go in the Thames Estuary with the 1903 chart!
 
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