Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Italian warfare engineer, was born 350 years ago (*July
20, 1658, Bologna, †November 1, 1730, Bologna). His cartographic activity had many
goals, from the mapping of the border of the Kingdom of Hungary (and also the Habsburg
Empire) to the survey of the Danube River. Besides of these works, he surveyed
the Gulf of Lion, at the southern shores of France, between 1706 and 1708, in connection
with the Spanish War of Succession. This work, which is exactly 300 years old,
has importance in the history of cartography and the marine exploration too. In present
context, it is the first survey of this part of the continental shelf in a large, open bay
near to the continent. He presented just one isobath at the depth of 60-70 brasses. Our
analysis shows that this bears early and quite precise information about the location
of the shelf escarpment
