Hi all,

 

I’m trying to catalog a Hammond International Map of the World.  There’s no date, but I have found several records in OCLC showing the code SSA 228 from the lower right just within the neat line. 

 

My problem is this.  Superimposed on this normal world map is what looks like some kind of historical routing.  It’s not hand written as if someone plotted their round the world family cruise.  It looks professionally done.  There are a total of 13 circled numbered points, each with dashed lines running between them.  I was hoping that someone in the Maps L group might recognize this routing from some event in history.  The first 4 points are not over land masses.  At least not when viewed at this scale.  Here’s the sequence.

 

!. Starts in the south pacific, east of French Polynesia, a point SE of the intersection of 120 degrees west and the Tropic of Capricorn.

2. Runs north north west from point 1 to just NW of the intersection of 120 degrees west and the equator.

3. Is exactly on the intersection of the international date line at 15 degrees north.

4. Is in the ocean just east of the Philippines.

5. Is plotted right over the Samoan islands.

6. Is a point way up in northern Canada, at the northern most end of the Gulf of Boothia.

7. From there the line runs south to a point at the southern tip of Lake Michigan.

8. The “route” continues south to Chile, with 8 plotted just east of Antofagasta and Taltal.

9. From Chile the route running across the south Atlantic to a point near Leopoldville Congo.

10. Runs north to a point over the Netherlands.

11. This point is over the toe of southern Italy.

12. Is over the Syrian Jordanian border.

13. And the routing ends with point 13 in northern Bangladesh, India.

 

So what I have is a normal world map with what looks like a random travel route, maybe by air, from the South East Pacific, to the Philippines, doubling back to Samoa, then way north to Northern Canada, south to northern Illinois or Indiana, to Chili, east to the Congo, north to the low countries of Europe, southeast to southern Italy, to the middle east, and finally to Bangladesh.

 

Any ideas?

Rick Grapes

BYU Map Collection