SMYTH (William Henry).
Plan of the Faro, or Strait of Messina, ...
William Henry Smyth (1788-1865) was one of the leading Admiralty hydrographic surveyors of the early nineteenth century, finishing his naval career as Admiral. The majority of his survey work was carried out in the Mediterranean - hence his nickname “Mediterranean Smyth”, with his Hydrography of Sicily, Malta and the adjacent islands …, published by the Hydrographical Office of the Admiralty in 1823, and the accompanying Memoir descriptive of the resources, inhabitants, and hydrography, of Sicily, and its islands …, published in 1824.
This is the general map and chart of the Strait of Messina north of the port of Messina, with the facing coast of the toe of Italy, as prepared for the Hydrography of Sicily …. For what is ostensibly a sea-chart, Smyth has given a very detailed depiction of the interior of the north-eastern tip of Sicily, with the fine hachuring giving a vivid sense of the terrain of the region.
