MAP #: 304B5
CARTOGRAPHER : BLUNT, EDMUND M.
DATE: 1804
SHORT TITLE : THE BAY OF CHESAPEAKE
REMAINING TITLE & ID : FROM ITS ENTRANCE TO BALTIMORE (CARTOUCHE, SOUTHWEST OF WASHINGTON, D.C., WITH ELABORATE CIRCULAR LINES FORMING THE BORDER OF THE CARTOUCHE). "ENGRAVED FOR THE AMERICAN COAST PILOT." (ABOVE BORDER IN CENTER TOP MARGIN). "FACE PAGE 106" (TOP RIGHT CORNER, ABOVE BORDER). "NEWBURYPORT. PUBLISHED BY EDMUND M. BLUNT. 1804." (CENTER, BELOW BORDER). A.M. PEASLEY, SC. (BOTTOM RIGHT MARGIN). SCALE OF 2 3/8 INCHES = 30 STATUTE MILES (BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER). LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE ARE NOT SHOWN.
EACH SUCCEEDING EDITION OF THE AMERICAN COAST PILOT WAS GREATLY REVISED, SO AS TO CONSTITUTE VIRTUALLY AN ENTIRELY NEW WORK. THE FOURTH EDITION, FROM WHICH THIS CHART IS TAKEN, WAS THE FIRST TO CONTAIN CHARTS, WHICH WERE PREPARED BY EDMUND M. BLUNT (1770-1862), AMERICA'S MOST NOTABLE EARLY HYDROGRAPHER. ASIDE FROM THOSE IN WILLIAM NORMAN'S THE AMERICAN PILOT, 1798, THESE CHARTS ARE EVIDENTLY THE FIRST SAILING CHARTS OF ANY KIND PREPARED IN THE UNITED STATES.
THIS CHART IS ORIENTED WITH THE WEST AT THE TOP AND SHOWS THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AND ITS MAJOR TRIBUTARIES. SOUNDINGS ARE SHOWN IN FATHOMS. SHOALS ARE STIPLED. NO LONGITUDE OR LATITUDE IS SHOWN. A SCALE IS GIVEN IN STATUTE MILES IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE CHART.
EDMUND BLUNT WAS BORN IN PORTSMITH, NEW HAMPSHIRE ON JUNE 20, 1770 AND WAS ONE OF TWELVE CHILDREN. HIS BOYHOOD DAYS WERE SPENT IN NEWBURYPORT, MASS. HE OPENED A BOOKSTORE IN 1793. RISTOW COMMENTS AS FOLLOWS ABOUT BLUNT: "BLUNT WAS SHOCKED BY THE INACCURACIES IN MOST OF THE EXISTING NAVIGATION GUIDES. IN 1796 HE PUBLISHED THE FIRST EDITION OF THE AMERICAN COAST PILOT, WHICH ON THE TITLE PAGE GAVE CREDIT TO CAPTAIN LAWRENCE FURLONG AS THE COMPILER. WHETHER FURLONG WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WORK OR WHETHER BLUNT USED HIS NAME TO GIVE NAUTICAL AUTHORITY TO THE VOLUME WE DO NOT KNOW. AT ANY RATE, IN THE EIGHTH (1815) AND SUBSEQUENT EDITIONS OF THE WORK, FURLONG'S NAME WAS DELETED." "ALTHOUGH BLUNT'S AMERICAN COAST PILOT UNDOUBTEDLY CONTAINED INFORMATION DERIVED FROM AMERICAN SEAMEN, IT ALSO DREW HEAVILY UPON SUCH EARLIER WORKS AS NORMAN'S AMERICAN PILOT, THE ATLANTIC NEPTUNE, AND, TO A LESSER DEGREE, EVEN ON THE ENGLISH PILOT, THE FOURTH BOOK."
"BLUNT'S TRADE AT HIS NEWBURYPORT STORE INCLUDED NAVIGATION CHARTS AS WELL AS NAUTICAL INSTRUMENTS AND PILOT BOOKS. SOME CHARTS OFFERED FOR SALE WERE ISSUED BY OTHER PUBLISHERS, SOME OF WHICH BLUNT REPRINTED. MANY OF BLUNT'S CHARTS WERE BASED ON SURVEYS MADE BY THE U.S. NAVY PRIOR TO THE WAR OF 1812... BY 1822 BLUNT'S SALES CATALOG LISTED EIGHTEEN CHARTS."
"BLUNT RETIRED IN 1826 OR 1827 AND THE BUSINESS WAS CARRIED ON BY EDMUND AND GEORGE WILLIAM UNDER THE IMPRINT E. & G.W. BLUNT. [THE SENIOR] BLUNT LIVED IN RETIREMENT AT HIS HOME IN OSSINING, NEW YORK, WHERE HE DIED ON JANUARY 4, 1862." GEORGE, THE LAST SURVIVING SON "SOLD THE COPYRIGHT FOR THE AMERICAN COAST PILOT TO THE U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT..." IN 1867 FOR $20,000.
DATA IS FROM RISTOW, GUTHORN, SABIN, PHILLIPS ATLASES (REF. TO 1809 ED.), AND FROM OBSERVATION OF THE COPIES IN THE HUNTINGFIELD COLLECTION.
EDITION & STATE INFO : THE 1804 EDITION IS THE FIRST OF THE AMERICAN COAST PILOT EDITIONS TO CONTAIN CHARTS. ONLY A SINGLE STATE OF THE 1804 EDITION IS KNOWN TO WRITER. SABIN DOES NOT NOTE A FIFTH EDITION OF THE PILOT. THE HUNTINGFIELD COLLECTION HAS A COPY OF THE SIXTH EDITION DATED 1809. THE MAP IN IT IS SLIGHTLY SMALLER AND HAS OBVIOUSLY BEEN REENGRAVED. THUS, WE ARE DENOTING THIS AS EDITION 2. A SEARCH OF ALL THE EDITIONS OF THE PILOT IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS REVEALED THAT THE SECOND EDITION OF THE MAP WAS CONTAINED IN THE PILOT THROUGH 1817, WITH ONLY THE DATE ON THE BOTTOM ALTERED TO CONFORM TO THE DATE OF THE CURRENT EDITION OF THE PILOT. AFTER 1817, A NEW CHART OF ONLY THE ENTRANCE TO THE BAY TOOK THE PLACE OF THE SECOND EDITION OF THE CHART DESCRIBED HEREIN.
ED. 1 - (1804) - THIS IS THE CHART AS DESCRIBED. SQUARE SYMBOLS IN ROWS DESIGNATING WASHINGTON, BALTIMORE AND NORFOLK ARE SHOWN, WHICH WERE CHANGED IN EDITION 2. THE DATE 1804 APPEARS IN THE CENTER BOTTOM MARGIN. THIS EDITION IS 19 X 44.5 CM IN SIZE. IN THE RIGHT BOTTOM MARGIN IS THE LEGEND "A.M. PEASLEY, SC."
ED. 2 - (1809) - THIS IS CHART # 12 IN THE SIXTH EDITION OF THE AMERICAN COAST PILOT OF 1809 (SEE MAP # 309B5). THE DATE IN THE CENTER BOTTOM MARGIN HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 1809. THE LEGEND IN THE RIGHT BOTTOM MARGIN HAS BEEN REMOVED AS IS "FACE PAGE 106.". THE CIRCULAR LINES FORMING THE BORDER OF THE CARTOUCHE ARE LESS ELABORATE THAN IN EDITION 1. "HOOKER SC" HAS BEEN ADDED BELOW THE CARTOUCHE. WASHINGTON, BALTIMORE AND NORFOLK ARE NOW SHOWN AS DIAGONAL SHADING.
DATA IS PRIMARILY FROM OBSERVATION OF THE COPIES IN THE HUNTINGFIELD COLLECTION, WITH HELP FROM SABIN.
HFC OWNERSHIP DATA : THE HUNTINGFIELD COLLECTION HAS A FRAMED COPY OF EDITION 1 IN BLACK AND WHITE THAT HAS BEEN DEACIDIFIED. IT HAS AN ACQ. # OF GS022-1TG AND A MDHR # OF MSA SC1399-191. THE COLLECTION ALSO HAS A COPY OF THE SIXTH EDITION OF THE AMERICAN COAST PILOT DATED 1809, WHICH INCLUDES EDITION 2 OF THE MAP. THAT MAP IS BLACK AND WHITE AND HAS AN ACQ. # OF WR019-FGDQ* AND A MDHR # OF MSA SC1399-255.
BIBLIGRAPHICAL REFS. : SABIN, JOSEPH, A DICTIONARY OF BOOKS RELATING TO AMERICA FROM ITS DISCOVERY TO THE PRESENT TIME, NEW YORK: JOSEPH SABIN, 1868-1936, # 26219; JOHN CARTER BROWN LIBRARY, MARITIME HISTORY. A PRELIMINARY HAND-LIST, PROVIDENCE: JOHN CARTER BROWN LIBRARY, [n.d.?], 390; PHILLIPS, PHILIP LEE, A LIST OF GEOGRAPHICAL ATLASES IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, AMSTERDAM: THEATRVM ORBIS TERRARVM, LTD., A 1971 REPRINT OF A 1909 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PUBLICATION, III, # 3676, (1809 ED.); HOWES, WRIGHT, U.S.IANA, NEW YORK: R. R. BOWKER CO. FOR THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY, 1962, 217-218, # 421; RISTOW, WALTER W., AMERICAN MAPS AND MAPMAKERS COMMERCIAL CARTOGRAPHY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, DETROIT: WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1985, 227, 228, 231; MORRISON, H. RUSSELL ETAL, ON THE MAP, CHESTERTOWN, MD: HUNTINGFIELD CORPORATION, 1983, 90, 92, FIG. 56 (REPRODUCTION OF 1804 ED. ON 92); PAPENFUSE, EDWARD C. & JOSEPH M. COALE, III, ATLAS OF HISTORICAL MAPS OF MARYLAND 1608-1908, BALTIMORE: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1982, 61, FIG. 63 (REPRODUCTION DETAIL); MORRISON, RUSSELL & ROBERT HANSEN, CHARTING THE CHESAPEAKE, ANNAPOLIS: MARYLAND STATE ARCHIVES, 1990, 49-53, FIG. 29 (TITLE PAGE OF 1796 PILOT ED.), FIG. 30 (REPRODUCTION OF 1804 ED.); GUTHORN, PETER J., UNITED STATES COASTAL CHARTS 1783-1861, EXTON, PA: SCHIFFER PUBLISHING CO., 9-11, 80 (REPRODUCTION OF BOTH THE 1804 AND 1809 EDS.).
July 14, 1991
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