The American Coast Pilot ... from Passamaquoddy, through the Gulf of Florida ... together with the courses and distances from Cape Cod and Cape Ann ... to George's Bank ... Corrected and improved ... Ninth edition

Front matter

THE AMERICAN COAST PILOT: CONTAINING DIRECTIONS FOR THE PRINCIPAL HARBORS, CAPES AND HEADLANDS, ON THE COASTS OF NORTH AN & SOUTH AMERICA DESCRIBING THE SOUNDINGS, BEARINGS OF THE LIGHTHOUSES AND BEACONS FROM THE ROCKS, SHOALS, LEDGES, &c. WITH THE PREVAILING WINDS, SETTING OF THE CURRENTS, &c AND THE LATITUDES ANO LONGITUDES OF TUE PRINCIPAL HARBOllS AND CAPES; TOGETHER 1VITH A TIDE TABLE. BY EDMUND M. BLUNT. rOUHT2I!HTH EDITION, IMPROVED, BY B* & G. W. BLUNT. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY EDMUND AND GEORGE W. BLUNT, 179 WATER STREET, CORNER OF BURLING SLIP. JANUARY, 1842. DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. i-Aor. PLAN OF PORTLAND HARBOR TO FRONT 148 PORTSMOUTH HARBOR do 153 ISLE OF SHOALS do 1.54 NEWBURYPORT HARBOR do 156 ANNIS SQUAM HARBOR, do. 157 CAPE ANN HARBOR, do 153 BOSTON HARBOR do 163 CAPE POGE HARBOR, do 173 NEWPORT HARBOR do ..189 LONG ISLAND SOUND do 192 BAY AND RIVER DELAWARE do 210 CHART OF CHESAPEAKE ENTRANCE do 213 PLAN OF CHARLESTON HARBOR do 228 SAVANNAH BAR, do 231 DOBOY SOUND, do 232 PENSACOLA HARBOR do 258 VIRGIN ISLANDS, do 390 Entered according to Act us Congress, in lhe year 181*2, by E. ic G. W. Blunt, in tht Clerk's Office ofthe District Court of ihe Southern District of New York. N.B. As some improvements have been made since this work commenced, the reader m referred to the

Appendix

. CHRONOMETERS rated, sold, ank r?j>»ired, by £. *c G. W. BLUNT.— See their •dvertiseinent in this work. uS** 'f.^^ Fnatvd Iij J. M. Elliott, U Libert; itrett, N. Y Preface io the Twelfth Edition of tlie American Coast Pilot. Nearly forty years have elapsed since the subscriber commenced this work. To it be has devoted the largest portion of his life, unwearied labor, and great expense; and the reception it has met with from that respectable class of society by whom it is used, may be inferred from the fact, that eleven EDITIONS, comprising thirty-seven thousand copies, have been sold, previous to the publication ofthe present edition. The difficulties of procuring all the improvements incident to a work of this character, not only intended to enable the mariner to recognize the coast at a distance ; but to direct him into a port when pilots cannot be obtained, render it a work of great labor and responsibility.

The life of the most experienced is more endangered when he approaches the coast, than when exposed to the tempests which agitate the mid-ocean. Pilots, who are not always to be found in the discharge of their duty, are often prevented by storms and violent winds from offering their services to ves sels endeavoring to make a harbor. In such cases, unless the masters are acquainted with the port, the safety ofthe vessel depends upon the accuracy of the Sailing Directions. Charts are intended rather to give a general idea ofthe coast, than minute and accurate descriptions of particular har bors. It is, therefore, to their printed directions that they must resort, to procure information which at such moments is vitally important. Their instruments and charts, by which they have been enabled to shape their course through a trackless ocean, are rendered useless from their ignorance of the channel by which they are to enter the harbor ; and mariners, who have escaped all former dangers ofthe voyage, are often shipwrecked upon some sunken rock or shoal, at the entrance of their destined port.

The knowledge of such dangers, important as it is to seamen generally, is par ticularly so to those of the United States. Navigating waters filled witb shifting sand banks and bars, wbich are formed by the Gulf Stream, and by the mighty rivers which discharge themselves from the coast of tho North American continent, they require no ordinary skill and knowledge to avoid those extensive and intricate shoals that line our shores. This coast is rendered still more dangerous by rapid tides and eddies peculiar to the American seas, and by a strong current running counter to the Gulf Stream, from the Danks of Newfoundland to Cape Florida. The boisterous and variable weather, so common iu this climate, also tends to increase the difficulties and dangers of our coasting trade. The Charts us the American Coast of foreign publication, were drawn from information obtained previous to the revolution, from the imperfect sketches of such ports as the policy of the British government caused to be surveyed at the time it held us as colonies.

These were few in number, and, since the publication of American charts, the English charts have fallen entirely into disuse. In general the mariners were left to acquire their knowledge from the shipwrecks of others. Those we now publish, are from authentic sources; and from the surveys of our own government, the ob servation of ship-masters, and our own exertions, we derive that informa tion which is here published concerning the coast ol the United States. In preparing the American Coast Pilot for press, recourse has been had to every Nautical work of merit ; and with the assurance that neither pains nor expense have been spared, it is presented to the world as perfect as the nature of the work will admit. Every source of marine intelligence which