The Land of Generica

Nathaniel Bowditch’s American Practical Navigator is the classic manual for sailors, offering practical (not surprisingly) advice for all manner of maritime situations. Our Technical Services Librarian recently added a copy to our online catalog, which gave me a reason to look through the volume, and I came across the following image (borrowed from Google Books):

Click to view in Google Books

Designed as an teaching aid for future navigators, this map depicts all the usual parts of the map labeled generically (e.g. the “Ocean” ocean surrounds the island “Island”), creating an imaginary land of the generic (not to be confused with Generica proper). If you’re interested in this type of imaginary cartography, the Strange Maps blog has many more examples

Here be Cannons, or, Where the Horses are “Boney and Strong”

Charles Blaskowitz, "A Chart of Narragansett Bay," 1777.

War brings a new perspective to most things, including maps. The surveying for this map of the Narragansett Bay was originally undertaken in the 1760s by Charles Blaskowitz. At that time, the British government was contemplating the placement of a naval yard in Newport.* With the onset of war in the following decade, the map came to serve other purposes. Here are a few interesting details:

The map’s text includes a description of the colony of Rhode Island at the time as viewed by a British functionary (a transcription and more discussion of the map are available at the Gaspee Virtual Archives):

"The horses are boney and strong"

Idyllic descriptions of New World fecundity (“Fish of all kinds are in the greatest plenty and perfection. The horses are boney and strong, the Meat Cattle and Sheep are much the largest in America, the Butter and Cheese excellent, and every necessary of Life in Attendance”) are balanced against cultural condescension (“It has a Town House, Market House, Library and a spacious Parade, but there is few private Buildings in it worth notice”). The colony’s notable religious tolerance is also pointed out.

The map also includes details of military importance:

"In this part of the country there is a Furnace and an Iron Foundry where they cast cannons"

Not exactly Here Be Dragons, but similar in its way. The map also lists gun batteries (with the number of guns and size of cannon balls—18 or 24 pounds—they fired), principal farms and farm owners in the colony and soundings throughout the Bay. (Someone with the time might compare the soundings in 1764 with more recent numbers.)

A copy of the map in the David Rumsey Collection is, like this one, divided into 16 sections and mounted. The Rumsey copy includes images of the slipcase in which the sections were originally housed.

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* Based on a letter presumably written by Robert Melville and reprinted as “A British Navy Yard Contemplated in Newport, R.I., in 1764.” in The Rhode Island Historical Magazine, vol. 6 (1885-6), pages 42-7. In the letter Blaskowitz is referred to as “Mr. Charles Blaskerwich” and described as “an able surveyor,” although young.