George Eldridge (1812-1900) (hydrographer)
New York and New England Sea Charts
from Harbor Chart-Book New York to Boston
Kelvin & Wilfrid O. White: Early 20th Century
20.5 x 16 inches, overall
19 x 14 inches, border
$300 each
Please inquire as to others available: area covered includes Long Island Sound to Boston*.
New York and New England Sea Charts
George Eldridge, Kelvin & Wilfrid O. White: Early 20th C.
Please inquire as to others available not shown below: area covered includes Long Island Sound to Boston.
George Eldridge, Kelvin & Wilfrid O. White: Early 20th C.
Please inquire as to others available not shown below: area covered includes Long Island Sound to Boston.
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Sea charts of New York and New England, showing the coastal areas from Manhattan to Boston, including harbors on both sides of Long Island Sound in New York, Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, as well as Cape Cod and Nantucket. The stated purpose was to provide sailors and yachters with "the necessary charts to cover the included coast, and to give courses and distances, as well as other information in a simple, practical way." All charts are in black and white with color buoy markers, and indicate shoals and soundings, as well as having dashed lines to indicate distances between various markers.
George Eldridge was a hydrographer, credited with making the first charts of the Atlantic Coast. Hydrographers measure, describe and map surface waters with special reference to navigation. Eldridge's charts were published from 1867 through the early 20th century. Some were separately issued -- generally large rolled charts backed on linen or blue paper (so called blue backs) and others were published in a smaller format in atlas editions of the Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book (published annually since 1875) and the Book of Harbor Charts.
Kelvin and Wilfrid O. White, Co. was a nautical instruments shop founded in Boston in 1918 by Wilfrid O. White, an Australian immigrant from a family of shipbuilders. Prior to opening his business, he studied with Lord Kelvin in Britain. The shop sold all types of nautical navigation equipment, ocean charts, and also manufactured navigation instruments. White married the daughter of George Eldridge, and Kelvin and Wilfrid O. White Co. took over publishing of updated versions of the Eldridge charts. The firm also operated stores in New York City and Montreal. In 1950, White was joined in the business by his two sons, and it was renamed Wilfrid O. White and Sons, Inc. That company was sold in 1961, but his descendants are still in the nautical instruments business in Boston under the name Robert E. White Instruments, Inc., also continuing as distributors of the Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book.
Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall toning, wear. Some with minor spotting or foxing. Some with light dampstain or greater yellowing margins, not obtrusive.
* Available charts: The following sea chart maps of the Long Island Sound, New England to Boston region, are pictured in the database above left; click on the title in the Current Inventory Viewer above to see the map above right. However, others are available. No. 1 New York, from Governor's Id. [Island] to Throg's Neck; No. 4 Larchmont and New Rochelle, NY; No. 5 Mamaroneck, NY; No. 25 Greenport, Orient, and Sag Harbor, L.I. NY; No. 27 Fisher's Id. [Island] Sound, NY; No. 34 Newport, R.I.; No. 43 Woods Hole, Mass.; No. 44 Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs, Mass.; No. 45 Edgartown, Mass.; No. 46 Nantucket, Mass.; No. 48 Hyannis, Centerville, Mass. (shown above); No. 49 Provincetown, Mass.; No. 51 Boston, Mass.; No. 5A Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound; No. 8A Cape Cod Canal and Chatham to Cape Ann.
References:
"History of Robert E. White Instruments, Inc." Robert E. White Instruments, Inc. http://www.robertwhite.com/aboutus.html (27 March 2007).