1848 Edmond Blunt Nautical Chart or Map of Florida and the Bahama Banks

Edmund March Blunt (June 20, 1770 - 1862) was an American navigator, bookseller, chartmaker, and cartographer based in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Blunt was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1770. In 1796, along with the nominal assistance of prominent navigator Captain Lawrence Furlong, Blunt published The American Coast Pilot, one of the most important published works on American navigation. Although much of the work was plagiarized from British publications, the Coast Pilot was an immediate popular success. In response to the popularity of his work, Blunt published 21 subsequent editions, each with important updates and revisions. The first edition to contain map plates was printed in 1804. Following a fire that destroyed his offices at The Sign of the Bible in 1811, Blunt moved his business to New York and opened a new shop, The Sign of the Quadrant. His sons Edmund Jr. (1799 - 1866) and George William (1802 - 1878), joined the firm in 1824 and eventually took over the family business, renaming the firm 'E. and G. W. Blunt'. They both produced their own nautical books, charts, and instruments, as well as republished their father’s work. In 1830, Edmund accepted a position under Ferdinand Hassler at the United States Office of the Coast Survey. Much of Blunt's original work eventually found its way into U.S. Coast Survey Publications. George closed the firm in 1872 and sold the plates and chart copyrights to the U.S. Coast Survey and the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office. Due to the quality and detail of Blunt's work, revised editions of his most important charts were republished well into the 1880s. More by this mapmaker...

John James Abert (September 17, 1788 - January 27, 1863) was an American soldier and engineer. For most of his career he was head of the United States' Corps of Topographical Engineers, initially an arm of the Corps of Engineers. In this role he was instrumental in organizing the mapping of the growing nation. He was born in Shepherdstown, Virginia; His father, John Abert, was reputed to have been a soldier in the company of the comte de Rochambeau, arriving to fight on behalf of the Americans in 1780. Despite having graduated from West Point, he initially intended to practice law. The war of 1812 saw him joining the D.C. Militia, however, and by 1814 he had enlisted as a topographical engineer. His bravery at the Battle of Bladensburg led to his brevetting to the rank of Major. In 1838 he was promoted to Colonel and appointed to lead the Corps of Topographical Engineers, having persuaded Congress to establish a separate Topographical Corps, distinct from the Corps of Engineers. This was primarily tasked with the mapping of the Transmississippi West. He remained at the head of the Corps for 23 years; Recognition for his labors led to his election as member of the American Philosophical Society and an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He retired in 1861. and died in 1863 in Washington, D.C.. Learn More...

Levin Mynn Powell (April 8, 1798 - January 15, 1885) was an officer of the United States Navy. He is recalled for his service in the Second Seminole War and the development of riverine tactics for the prosecution of that war. These techniques would be employed more than a century later, in Vietnam. He would also serve with the Union Navy in the American Civil War. He was born April 8, 1798, in Winchester, Virginia; he joined the Navy in 1813. His early service spanned the globe. His service fighting pirates in the Gulf of Mexico would lead to his promotion to Lieutenant in 1826. Between 1836 and 1838 he commanded forces and the USRC Washington during the Second Seminole War, fighting the Seminole in Florida. From 1840 to 1841, Powell commanded the brig USS Consort, and surveyed the coast from the Appalachicola River to the Mississippi River. He was promoted to commander in 1843. During the American Civil War, Powell commanded the USS Potomac from 1861 to 1862, on blockade duty in the Gulf of Mexico. After the war he was promoted to commodore, and then to rear admiral on the retired list in 1869. Learn More...

George Gauld (October 26, 1732 - June 8, 1782) was a Scottish surveyor, painter, and military engineer active in the mid to late 18th century. Gauld was born in Ardbrack, Banffshire, Scotland and educated at King's College, Aberdeen. He subsequently served in 1861 briefly on the HMS Deptford while it was testing John Harrison's revolutionary marine chronometer. He served in North America during the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763). In the immediate aftermath of the war, between 1764 and 1781, he was made Surveyor General of West Florida assigned to survey the coast. Gauld's survey efforts ended in 1781 when Spain besieged Pensacola and invaded West Florida, capturing him. It is not clear if his survey work found its way into Spanish hydrographic charts, but it may have been incorporated into general Direccion Hidrografía knowledge. Gauld was repatriated to England in 1782 and died shortly after. His survey work remained unpublished throughout the American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783), when the valuable data might have fallen into rebel hands. It remained the best and most detailed survey of the Gulf Coast until the work of the U.S. Coast Survey in the 1840s. Learn More...