A Chart of the Gulf of Florida or New Bahama Channel, commonly called the Gulf Passage, between Florida, the Isle of Cuba, & the Bahama Islands: from the journals, observations and draughts of Mr. Chas. Roberts, master of the Rl. Navy, compared with the surveys of Mr. George Gauld &ca

Book Description

London: printed for W. Faden, 1 August 1794. Copper-engraved map, hand- coloured in outline. Good condition, with small neat repairs to fold and upper and lower margin, old light creasing. 24 x 30 1/4 inches. A spectacular and rare sea-chart of southern Florida, the Keys, the north coast of Cuba and the Bahamas. The British Admiralty assigned George Gauld, a Scots-born surveyor, the task of charting the difficult waters off the Gulf Coast of West Florida. Between 1764 and 1781 Gauld mapped an area that extended from New Orleans to the western coast of modern-day Florida. Recognizing the importance of his work to all those who travelled in the area, Gauld readily shared his work with scientific societies in America. During the Revolutionary War, Gauld was forced to suspend his work in the Dry Tortugas and Florida Keys due to attacks by American privateers, and in 1781, he was taken prisoner at the Siege of Pensacola. He was subsequently taken to Havana and then New York, before being repatriated to England, where he died shortly afterwards. Cf. Ware, John D. George Gauld, Surveyor and Cartographer of the Gulf Coast (Gainesville, Fla.: Univ. of Florida, 1982).

Not sure what some of these terms mean? Look it up in our glossary.