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George Gauld's Plan of the Bays of Pensacola and Mobile with the Sea Coast and Country adjacent

One of the most imporant and historic charts of West Florida, produced by surveyor George Gauld

Further Information

The first of the surveys which went toward the compilation of this chart was that of the Bay of Pensacola[1]. It was in fact the very first survey the newly appointed George Gauld undertook upon his arrival in West Florida in August 1764. The first survey was updated over the years and also formed the basis for J. F. W. Des Barres's 'A Chart of the Bay and Harbour of Pensacola', in the 1780 edition of his Atlantic Neptune[2]. On return from the second part of the survey, of Mobile Bay, after May 1768, Gauld would have compiled this chart from all of his survey material dating back to 1764.

Gauld completed his original survey of the Bay of Pensacola in two months and did such a good job that the Governor, on submission of the survey to their Lordships at the Admiralty stated he 'is ever indefatigable in his profession, and in stolen hours has done this Public Benefit. He is by far the superior mathematical Genius among those who have come to this country..' Present on the part of this chart which covers the Bay of Pensacola are some delightful entries typical of those which mark his work: He includes small notes in his own hand to elaborate or inform (Note those on the rivers around Pensacola Bay); The marking of significant structures or land-marks to aid navigation such as the leading-mark over the bar of 'Reid's tree', which is a mile to the north of the Red Sandy Cliffs (this is a tribute to Robert Reid, Master of HMS tartar which was the ship which brought Gauld to Pensacola in the first place. It wasn't until the 27th of February 1768 that Gauld started his survey for the second part of this chart, beginning with the lower part of Mobile Bay. The first task of which was to delineating at least two fixed points ashore to ensure a corresponding degree of accuracy in the plane perspective (triangulation). Having noted his two points of reference on shore, Dauphin Island the end of Mobile Point, he could then record accurately all offshore information. On Dauphin island, he notes Lieutenant Governor Montfort Browne's property on the north shore near what is now Cedar Point and also a 'Guard House' which was in fact an old French Post on the south shore. In his General Descriptions which accompanied his work, Gauld noted 'large hillocks of Oyster Shells'[3] being found near the houses on the north shore. To the west end of the Island he notes a 'Remarkable single tree'. During this time The Hawke anchored between Dauphin Island and Great Pelican Island which Gauld, typically, commemorated by naming 'Hawkes Bay'. A quick study of any of Gauld's work in the Gulf sees him retain many of the existing place names. It is a mark of Gauld's work that he retained much of the known nomenclature of previous French explorers and surveyors, indicating that he had himself studies those works in preparation for his own survey work. On the 20th March Gauld and his men returned to Pensacola for replenishment of stores[4]. By the 1st of April she was back in Mobile bay and Gauld went to work up the east shore of the bay ascending the Bon secour River, noting several estates and dwellings up the coast including Daniel Ward's, Elias Durnford's[5] plantation and Edmund Rush Wegg's plantation. He shows Oyster Bay but rather oddly does not name it. Further on up the coast Gauld notes the 'highest Red Cliff' at what is now Fairhope and is known today as Seacliff, also Yellow Cliff which is near modern day Daphne. His depiction of the Western shore notes the low and marshy nature of the land. He marks the residences of Francis and Mont Louis, once the residence of the Chevalier Montault de Monberaut. He shows 'Buck' river which is today known as 'Deer' river although he did not survey the river itself. He marks several other properties on his way up to the settlement of Mobile itself which he described as being 'pretty regular, of an oblong figure, on the West Bank of the River where it enters the Bay'. He went on to state that because of its location close to the marshes and lagoons at the head of the bay it inhabitants were subject to 'Fevers and Agues in the Hot Seasons'. Mobile had, after the British accession in 1763, seen most of its wealthier French inhabitants leave although some had remained along with a few plantation owners. The fur and skins trade upon which Mobile had grown, still amounted to approximately fifteen thousand pounds annually. By the 1st of May Gauld had finished his survey of Mobile. The Hawke was back in Pensacola by the 9th May. [1] Pensacola was, over the next 17 years to become Gauld''s home where he became a leading member of the town's General assembly. Duties which he undertook willingly when not engaged upon his surveying duties. [2] This was the only one of Gauld's charts ever to be published during his lifetime. [3] This is not dissimilar to the hillocks of turtle shells found on the East coast of Florida (see Heritage Charts A408). Something which Gauld himself recorded as 'many such vestiges of the ancient inhabitants in several bays and other places on the coast', wherever the 'savages' encamped. [4] This included 936 pounds of bread, 224 pieces of pork, 168 of beef, 125 pounds of butter and 8 bushels of pease. [5] Durnford was Gauld’s military counterpart, an engineer appointed to the region as Gauld's military counterpart, an engineer.