V.O.C. Chart of the Netherlands, south-eastern England and the English Channel.

V.O.C. manuscript vellum chart of the Netherlands, south-eastern England and the English Channel. Depicting the southern part of the North Sea, from the English Channel to Lincolnshire and the Wadden Islands, and the Dutch and English coastlines. In lower right scale (Duytsche Mijlen 15 voor een graat), large compass rose, and two large latidude scales, colored in yellow, green and red.
Rhumb lines, anchor places a wealth of depth indications. Place names are in brown ink, town who have a VOC chamber, and ports are shown as a fortification plan.
The chart gives a good representation of the hydrography along the Dutch, Flemish and French coasts as well as the facing coast of England.
All place-names appear within the coastline so as not to obscure navigational data, hazards in particular. The waters are written in red ink.
Anchor places along the British coast are marked with an anchor. It provides all information necessary for the navigation and safe passage through the shallows and between the sandbanks that obstructed the entrance to several coastal ports and estuaries.
The chart looks very familiar to charts made by Isaac de Graaf (1667-1743), however the use of compass card and lettering is not as fine and elegant as those of Isaac de Graaf.
Manuscript charts fall into the most rare category of collectible maps on the market.