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Description

Petty's suggestions include considerations relating to mathematics, astronomy, meteorology, the tides, fishing, jurisdiction at sea, shipbuilding, instruments to use, economics, properties of materials such as iron and timber, shipping lanes and examples of five or six of the best navies and dockyards of Europe.

Subject: Navigation

Read to the Royal Society on 24 March 1686

Reference number
CLP/7i/36
Earliest possible date
24 March 1686
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
4 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

William Petty

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Citation

William Petty, Paper, 'What a compleat treatise of navigation should containe' by William Petty, 24 March 1686, CLP/7i/36, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/clp_7i_36/paper-what-a-compleat-treatise-of-navigation-should-containe-by-william-petty, accessed on 11 February 2026

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  • Classified Papers

    The 'Classified Papers' of the Royal Society are papers from British and international natural philosophers and scholars categorised according to subject areas.

    Dates: 1592 - 1741

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