Jacques Nicolas Bellin; 1703-1772.

A first rank cartographer, Bellin worked for some fifty years at the French hydrographic service (Dépôt de la Marine); which he ran till his death. In this position he had unequal access to prime cartographic data, often used to further his own private business interests. He was succeeded at the head of the service by the very talented, and no less prolific, Rigobert Bonne. His career was mainly devoted to charting and mapping coast lines, harbors, sea lanes.
Most of his publications were related to nautical matters: maps for "Histoire générale des Voyages"* between 1747 and his death, "Atlas Maritime" in 1751, "Neptune François" in 1753, "Petit Atlas Maritime" in 1764,. for the benefit of the French Navy, merchantmen, and the public at large.
He is known to have used informations from the best fellow cartographers of his time, to complement the in-land parts of his maps, notably: Guillaume de l'Isle and Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, often giving them credit.
Fame, enormous output and fastidious quality of work, earned him the appointment of "hydrographer to the king" by Louis XV of France. He was also a member of the Royal Society in London.

* A major work published by Antoine François Prévost d'Exile. The first edition in 1747 was already of an encyclopedic size. A major remodeling was done in the mid fifties, incorporating some two hundred new maps (quite a few drawn by Bellin). Later editions, till 1789, incorporated verbatim other authors travel writings (e.g.: Gmelin's "Voyage au Kamchatka par la Sibérie" was

Carte hydrographique de la baye de La Havane..

This large and rare city map (22 1/8' X 16 1/16") was produced by Bellin for his "Hydrographie Françoise", a two volume work published between 1756 & 1765.
The present item is not dated, but is probably from the 1762 edition. It offers an extraordinary level of details concerning the defenses of the town, notice in particular the name of each of the ten bastions along the city wall, with their respective guns complement.
Also notice the three insets showing respectively the three main forts defending the entrance to the harbor. At the foot of the Moro castle: a battery of twelve massive guns: the twelve "apostles".
In the upper part, a hill is shown east of the Moro as high ground commanding the fort.. a strategic position that was not defended by the Spaniards. It was promptly occupied by the invading English in 1762, permitting the siege and capture of the town. The depth of the anchorage in given in feet at low tide, with corrections for high tides according to moon phases.
No text on verso.