A fascinating small scale chart of the coasts of Maine, New England, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Despite the scale it contains a great deal of detail but it is clearly a compilation and reduction of the larger-scale surveys completed by Samuel Holland's survey teams from the late 1760s through to about 1775.
On close inspection this is a chart of two distinct halves offering contrasting information inasmuch as the northern sheet of the chart, where Des Barres himself did a lot of early surveying work between Casco Bay and Halifax, depicts the coastline with little hydrographical information, especially soundings. Indeed it is a recurring theme on surveys produced at this time that the comment '.. No soundings for want of naval assistance' appears quite frequently. Soundings were generally curtailed to harbours, inlets and rivers as the only naval vessel available was HMS Canceaux under command of Lieutenant Henry Mowat who was detailed to support Holland's survey teams and patrol the New England coastline for pirates and smugglers.
On the northern section of the chart, Des Barres has taken care to include detailed depictions of rivers, tributaries and mountain relief north of Newburyport off the back of Samuel Holland's the land survey teams. The southern sheet does include a more detailed hydrographic surveys of sea, likely completed by John Knight, who was working in the Cape Code and Rhode Island region at this time. As a result this sheet of the chart shows a concentration of soundings and details of sand banks and shoals, and was the type of chart which mariners would rely upon.
At a time when the conflict in the War of Independence was at its peak, there was a veritable thirst for information from naval commanders operating in the region as well as the Admiralty back in London. Des Barres was undoubtedly doing all he could to quench that thirst for knowledge and news and he would have made use of whatever information he had at his disposal. By combining and redrawing existing works, he was able to conjure such presentations.
J.F.W. Des Barres & Lt John Knight
A113
A fascinating small scale chart of the coasts of Maine, New England, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Despite the scale it contains a great deal of detail but it is clearly a compilation and reduction of the larger-scale surveys completed by Samuel Holland's survey teams from the late 1760s through to about 1775.
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