Lieutenant-Commander John Blake, FRIN, spent twelve years in the Royal Navy. He has worked extensively with the UK Hydrographic Office, the producers of Admiralty Charts, and is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and the Royal Geographical Society. John is the author of the acclaimed Bloomsbury publications The Sea Chart (2003) and Sea Charts of the British Isles (2005). His research interests span the maritime world, from nautical charts and surveying to merchant shipping.