Cartographer: Anthony Smith. [cartouche, upper left corner]
Title: Carte De La Baie De Chesapeake et de la Partie
navigeable des Rivieres, James, York, Patowmack, Patuxen, Patapsco, North
East, Choptank et Pokomack. Redigre Pour Le Service Des Aisseaux Du Roi,
au Depot General des Cartes, Plans et Journaux de la Marine, Par Ordre
de M. De Sartine, Conseiller d'Etat, Ministre et Secretaire d'Etat au Departe-ment
de la Marine, d'apres des Plans Anglois, et particulierement ceux d'Antoine
Smith, Pilote de Ste. Marie, 1778.
Fourth edition.
Engraver: Petit.
Publisher: [Paris], Depot General des Cartes, Plans et Journaux de la Marine.
Dimensions: Sheet 65.7 x 96.7 cm.; plate 60.3 x 88.3 cm.; image: 58 x 86 cm. Engraving.
Inset: Plan / de la Baie Herring / en Maryland.
Scale: Bar scale indicates 2 miles.
Dimensions: 18.2 x 30.6 cm.
In: Neptune Americo-Septentrional, Paris, 1780.
Carte de la Baie de Chesapeake, 1780
This "Carte de la Baie de Chesapeake" is, according to its title, based primarily on the maps by Anthony Smith, Pilot of St. Mary's. However, the influence of the Hoxton chart (no.12) is evident from the similarities in sailing directions, the delineation of the land, the notions concerning observations of the Gulf Stream and the inset map of Herring Bay.
Smith's contributions probably include the drawing of the navigable parts of the James, York, Rappahanock, Patuxent, Choptank and Pocomoke rivers, as these are not found on the Hoxton chart. In general, this chart gives attention to the features on the coast than does the Hoxton chart, with settlements and creeks carefully depicted. The location and shape of the shoals is updated from the Hoxton chart. It is interesting to note that the Baltimore on this chart is the old Baltimore County seat east of the Bush River. This county seat location was abandoned in the 1690s in favor of a location west of the Little Gunpowder Falls, yet it appears on many 18th-century maps.
This "Carte de la Baie de Chesapeake" is the fourth edition of a chart that first appeared in 1776. The first edition was entitled "A New and Accurate Chart of the Bay of Chesapeake." The second edition appeared in 1777 in Thomas Jefferys' North American Pilot and a third edition in 1778 in the French sea atlas Pilot Americain Septentrional. The chart continued to be used, with few alterations, in sea atlases until the beginning of the 19th century.
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