The chart was stylized and published by J.F.W. Des Barres in 1780.   It is a first 'state' of the 4 sheet chart which predates that held in the National Maritime Museum, London.  The area depicted on this chart was principly surveyed by George Gauld who was responsible for a great deal of the survey work along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico at this time.  It is typical of the work of Gauld to include detailed notes on the area surveyed but in this case the published chart is very simply presented by Des Barres with little notation or indeed labelling of settlements other than those central to British interests.  Detailed soundings are included in both fathoms and feet. 

Pensacola, had been acquired by the British in 1763, after the Treaty of Paris which had marked the end of the French & Indian war (known in Europe as the 7 Years War).  Spain, the previous occupiers of the territory had enjoyed little economic success in the area and effectively traded the area of for possession of the island of Cuba.  The British relocated the town from its original location on Santa Maria Island, across the bay to its present location depicted on this chart.  The British carefully mapped-out streets, a water-well and improvements to the port.  They built Fort George in 1779 and established the town as the Capital of West Florida. Over the next few years Pensacola was to become the centre of commerce with trade in lumber, furs and naval stores.  It was at the heart of British operations in West Florida until it was lost in 1781 back to the Spanish (see Heritage Charts A402).

Throughout the Revolutionary War the significance of ports and towns such as New Orleans, Mobile and Pensacola was not so much strategic, but economic.  They were, after all, a long way from the fighting taking place in the northern and middle states.  These ports effectively controlled the flow of supplies to the American war effort.  In addition Spain and France had their own interests in the Gulf area and were anxious to remove the British strangle-hold on them.

The coastline depicted here in this chart is today renowned for its magnificent white sandy beaches and leisure facilities but is, along with its wild-life inhabitants, currently under siege from a different type of assailant – oil pollution from industrial accident.