{"title":"Nautical Charts","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"boston-harbor-chart-1865","title":"Boston Harbor Chart, 1865","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"product-context\"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe prime meridian on this chart runs through the State House in Boston. All distances radiate outward from that dome. E.P. Dutton published this harbor and bay chart from the Boston Map Store, marking every buoy, beacon, and submerged rock from Danvers south to Cohasset. Depth soundings crowd the shipping channels, and hachures shade the coastal hills. The chart covers the full harbor system at a scale useful for coastal navigation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-callouts\"\u003e\n  \u003cul\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe radial distance rings centered on the State House. The chart measures everything from that single point.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe buoys and beacon symbols scattered across the harbor channels, each one marking a navigational hazard.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe coastline from Nahant around to Cohasset. Every headland, cove, and island is individually named.\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Folio","offers":[{"title":"8×10","offer_id":47271571259570,"sku":"FOLIO-wd376676m-POSTER-8x10","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"11×14","offer_id":47271571357874,"sku":"FOLIO-wd376676m-POSTER-11x14","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12×18","offer_id":47281349066930,"sku":"FOLIO-wd376676m-POSTER-12x18","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"16×20","offer_id":47271571456178,"sku":"FOLIO-wd376676m-POSTER-16x20","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"20×30","offer_id":47281349099698,"sku":"FOLIO-wd376676m-POSTER-20x30","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0762\/7292\/6898\/files\/wd376676m-8x10.jpg?v=1775761574"},{"product_id":"boston-harbor-1688","title":"Boston Harbor, 1688","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"product-context\"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eCaptain John Fayrwether and Captain Thomas Smith took the soundings. This is the earliest known chart of Boston Harbor, originally drawn around 1688 and reproduced in facsimile by the Massachusetts Historical Society around 1893. The compass rose dominates the composition, hand-painted in vivid color, while depth soundings fill the channels between the harbor islands. The chart is oriented with north toward the upper right, and the coastline is rendered with the rough confidence of men who sailed these waters daily rather than surveyed them from shore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-callouts\"\u003e\n  \u003cul\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe compass rose at center is the visual anchor of the entire chart. It's hand-painted with more care than most of the coastline.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe soundings through the main shipping channel show where the deep water ran between the harbor islands.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe captains who took these measurements are named in the cartouche: Fayrwether and Smith, working mariners, not professional cartographers.\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Folio","offers":[{"title":"8×10","offer_id":47271576567986,"sku":"FOLIO-cj82kx712-POSTER-8x10","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"11×14","offer_id":47271576666290,"sku":"FOLIO-cj82kx712-POSTER-11x14","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12×16","offer_id":47281349853362,"sku":"FOLIO-cj82kx712-POSTER-12x16","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"16×20","offer_id":47271576764594,"sku":"FOLIO-cj82kx712-POSTER-16x20","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0762\/7292\/6898\/files\/cj82kx712-8x10.jpg?v=1775761721"},{"product_id":"boston-harbor-survey-1775","title":"Boston Harbor Survey, 1775","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"product-context\"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eDrawn in pen-and-ink and watercolor by deputy surveyors Thomas Wheeler and James Grant under orders from Samuel Holland, His Majesty's Surveyor General, this manuscript chart maps Boston Bay on the eve of revolution. Depths are rendered by soundings and color washes, the harbor islands are carefully outlined, and the coastline carries the precision of a working survey rather than a decorative print. It is a British administrative tool. The Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations needed to know exactly what they were trying to hold.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-callouts\"\u003e\n  \u003cul\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe depth soundings scattered across the harbor. Each number represents a fathom measurement taken by hand.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe coastline is drawn with the precision of a working survey. The careful harbor island outlines contrast with the looser rendering of inland terrain.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe watercolor washes shift from blue to green to indicate changing depths near the shoals.\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Folio","offers":[{"title":"10×10","offer_id":47271582335154,"sku":"FOLIO-z603vj72n-POSTER-10x10","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"14×14","offer_id":47271582531762,"sku":"FOLIO-z603vj72n-POSTER-14x14","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"16×16","offer_id":47271582630066,"sku":"FOLIO-z603vj72n-POSTER-16x16","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"18×18","offer_id":47271582728370,"sku":"FOLIO-z603vj72n-POSTER-18x18","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0762\/7292\/6898\/files\/z603vj72n-10x10.jpg?v=1775761866"},{"product_id":"boston-bay-french-1778","title":"Boston Bay (French), 1778","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"product-context\"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eGeorges-Louis Le Rouge published this French chart of Boston Bay as part of his Pilote Americain Septentrional, translating British survey data for a new ally's navy. France had entered the war in February 1778, and its fleet needed navigational intelligence for American waters. City blocks on the Boston peninsula are colored in different shades, the harbor islands are carefully outlined, and radiating rhumb lines provide compass bearings for approaching ships. Soundings, shoals, and channel markings fill the water.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-callouts\"\u003e\n  \u003cul\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe rhumb lines radiating across the harbor. They provided compass bearings for French navigators approaching Boston.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe soundings dotting the harbor and channels; each number is a depth measurement translated from British surveys.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe colored city blocks on the Boston peninsula. Different shades distinguish the built environment at a glance.\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Folio","offers":[{"title":"12×18","offer_id":47271587905714,"sku":"FOLIO-3f462x15s-POSTER-12x18","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0762\/7292\/6898\/files\/3f462x15s-12x18.jpg?v=1775762064"},{"product_id":"boston-from-the-harbor-1779","title":"Boston from the Harbor, 1779","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"product-context\"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eJoseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres drew this aquatint for the Atlantic Neptune, the monumental maritime atlas commissioned by the British Admiralty during the American Revolution. The view is from the water, as a ship captain would see it. Boston's skyline is a low band of church spires on the horizon, with vessels anchored in the foreground. The purpose was not art but navigation: identifying landmarks to guide ships into a harbor controlled by the Royal Navy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-callouts\"\u003e\n  \u003cul\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe church spires on the skyline. They were the primary landmarks for navigating into Boston Harbor.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe rocky cliff on the right edge frames the harbor entrance as a pilot would see it from the deck.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe ships in the foreground show different rigging configurations; each vessel type carried a specific trade function.\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Folio","offers":[{"title":"8×10","offer_id":47271592493234,"sku":"FOLIO-7h149z72h-POSTER-8x10","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"11×14","offer_id":47271592591538,"sku":"FOLIO-7h149z72h-POSTER-11x14","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12×18","offer_id":47281352278194,"sku":"FOLIO-7h149z72h-POSTER-12x18","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0762\/7292\/6898\/files\/7h149z72h-8x10.jpg?v=1775762144"},{"product_id":"boston-inner-harbor-1907","title":"Boston Inner Harbor, 1907","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"product-context\"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eBold blocks of red, green, yellow, and blue divide the harbor into jurisdictions: Commonwealth lands, railroad-owned parcels, and tidal flats. The Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners produced this map as Boston's waterfront was being reshaped by industrial expansion, and it reads less like a traditional chart than a zoning diagram rendered in primary colors. A table of bridge passageway widths sits in the margin, cataloging clearances for the vessels still threading through the inner harbor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-callouts\"\u003e\n  \u003cul\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe railroad-owned parcels along the waterfront. Each railroad's territory is coded in a different color.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe depth soundings and isolines in the channel show where dredging kept the harbor navigable for commercial shipping.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe table of bridge vessel passageway widths. It documents exactly how much room ships had to squeeze through.\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Folio","offers":[{"title":"11×14","offer_id":47271596327090,"sku":"FOLIO-g732hg07z-POSTER-11x14","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12×18","offer_id":47271596425394,"sku":"FOLIO-g732hg07z-POSTER-12x18","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"20×30","offer_id":47271596523698,"sku":"FOLIO-g732hg07z-POSTER-20x30","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"24×36","offer_id":47211037360306,"sku":"FOLIO-g732hg07z-POSTER-24x36","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0762\/7292\/6898\/files\/g732hg07z-11x14.jpg?v=1775762266"},{"product_id":"boston-harbor-chart-1776","title":"Boston Harbor Chart, 1776","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"product-context\"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eRhumb lines radiate from a central point in the harbor like a geometric star, the signature of a working nautical chart. Published in the North American Pilot by Sayer and Bennett, this chart gave British navigators the soundings, sailing marks, and shoal boundaries they needed to approach Boston during the Revolution. Stippled sandbanks and numbered fathom depths fill the waterways between the harbor islands, while fortifications are marked on the surrounding headlands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-callouts\"\u003e\n  \u003cul\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe rhumb-line star centered in the harbor is both a navigational tool and the map's strongest visual element, its lines reaching to the edges of the sheet.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe stippled areas marking shoals and sandbanks; they map the shallow water that could ground an approaching warship.\u003c\/li\u003e\n        \u003cli\u003eThe fortification symbols along the harbor shores. This chart was published during a war, and defenses mattered as much as depth.\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Folio","offers":[{"title":"12×18","offer_id":47271598031026,"sku":"FOLIO-kk91fr068-POSTER-12x18","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"20×30","offer_id":47271598129330,"sku":"FOLIO-kk91fr068-POSTER-20x30","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0762\/7292\/6898\/files\/kk91fr068-12x18.jpg?v=1775762317"}],"url":"https:\/\/foliomaps.co\/collections\/nautical-charts.oembed","provider":"Folio Maps","version":"1.0","type":"link"}