Detailed British Admiralty chart Buffalo River, South Africa.

The chart marks soundings, hazards of the sea, and magnetic variation, with principal ports and rivers marked.

Staff-Captain William Edwin Archeacon (1839-1893), began his career in the navy during the Crimean War, and saw active service against the Russian's in the Baltic and Black Sea. In 1857, he was transferred to the surveying branch of the Admiralty. Seeing service first in North America, and South Africa. In 1872 to 1882 he was placed in charge of the Admiralty's survey of the west coast of Australia, updating the surveys of Vancouver; Flinder's; and Denham in HMS Herald (1858). In 1866, he was placed in charge of the Cape of Good Hope survey. He would later carry out surveys in western Australia and the west coast of England.

The charts bears the stamp of the ship ship chandler H. H. Abrahamson, a shipping agent working in Bunbury, Western Australia, at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The British Hydrographic Office was founded in 1795 by George III, who appointed Alexander Dalrymple as the first Hydrographer to the Admiralty. The first charts were produced in 1800. Unlike the U. S. Coast Survey the Hydrographic Office was given permission to sell charts to the public and they produced a great number of sea charts covering every corner of the globe. Most of the Admiralty charts produced by the Hydrographic Office delineated coastline as well as high and low water marks and record depth of water as established by soundings. In addition these charts included information on shoals, reefs, and other navigational hazards that plagued mariners across the world. Thanks to the innovations of Sir Francis Beaufort, who developed the Beaufort Scale of wind strength, the British Hydrographic Office became one of the leading producers of sea charts. In fact, such was their accuracy that the phrase 'Safe as an Admiralty Chart' was coined.