Biography
Leonard Compere Cushee (fl1751-1760) is thought to have been the nephew of Richard Cushee (1696-1733), globemaker, surveyor and publisher (for a biography of Richard Cushee see item 12). Leonard Cushee was apprenticed to Nathaniel Hill (fl1746-1768) in 1751, who in turn had apprenticed with Richard Cushee before publishing his own globes. He was only known to have made one pocket globe independently, working opposite Temple Gate on Fleet Street. He sold his globes with Benjamin Cole (1695-1766), who ran his workshop at “The Orrery & Globe”, which was formerly run by Thomas Wright. Wright had previously worked with Richard Cushee to publish ‘The Description and Use of the Globes, and the Orrery’ by Joseph Harris.

Geography
The cartography on Leonard Cushee’s globe is an updated version of Richard Cushee’s 1731 globe with a new cartouche. Leonard Cushee has added notations of extensive trade winds in ocean areas, and California is no longer shown as an island. Further, American colonies are indicated, including “Maryland”, “N. Carolina”, S. Carolina” and “Georgia”, in addition to the notations that appeared on the 1731 globe including “Florida” (now just “F”), “Virginia”, “N. Eng.” and “New Britain”. The globe is also updated to show the tracks of George Anson’s voyage (1740-1744).

Astronomy
The cartography pasted to the inside of the case is the same is the same as Richard Cushee’s celestial globe. The projection of the celestial gores is geocentric but the constellations are seen from the back with the figures reversed – for example, the Great Bear looks right. The stars are represented by different symbols but there is no magnitude table. The Milky Way is labelled, and the 48 Ptolemaic constellations and four of the non-Ptolemaic constellations are drawn. Four of the southern constellations are drawn, as well as those of Plancius and all those of Hevelius.

Rare. Not in the National Maritime Museum Collection.