Description:

This is an exceptional example of Captain Paul Pinkham's historically significant and extremely rare nautical chart, "A Chart of Nantucket Shoals". Originally published in Boston around 1791 by John Norman, this chart is one of the foundational pieces of American cartography and a highlight of early U.S. marine charting.

Key Details:

• Surveyor/Draughtsman: Captain Paul Pinkham (1736-1799), a Nantucket Quaker, ex-whaleman, and the first keeper of the Nantucket lighthouse at Sandy Point (Great Point).
• Publisher: John Norman, a prominent early American engraver and publisher in Boston.
• Original Publication: Issued as one of only two original charts in The American Pilot, one of the first sea atlases published in the United States.
• Content: The map provides a detailed and comprehensive survey of the treacherous waters around Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard, including updated soundings, notes on currents, tides, and anchorages. The chart features two certificates in the upper left attesting to its accuracy, signed by local navigators and Peleg Coffin in September 1790.
• Significance: Known for its utilitarian aesthetic and practical value to mariners, the chart was a crucial effort to improve safety along what Pinkham himself called the "most dangerous coast within the limits of the United States". Nantucket bibliographer Everett Crosby described it as "The best and rarest of the old maps of Nantucket alone".

Dimensions: H:20in, L:30in.