Gift guide
Gifts for sailors
Sailors already own charts; what they don't own is the 1860 Coast Survey chart of the water they know by heart, with the soundings the first surveyors took by lead line and the lighthouses that were new then. Pick the home port, the racing waters or the cruising ground. Framed in black for a study, oak for a lake house, and canvas if the wall is in a boathouse.
Cape Cod Bay Nautical Chart, 1879
Nantucket Shoals Nautical Chart, 1860
Chesapeake Bay Nautical Chart, 1861
Key West Nautical Chart, 1864
Puget Sound Nautical Chart, 1889
San Francisco Bay Entrance Nautical Chart, 1859
New York Harbor Nautical Chart, 1861
Charleston Harbor Nautical Chart, 1862
Lake Michigan Nautical Chart, 1894
Moll Map of the West Indies, 1715
Three tips
- Charts are dense: 24×30 or 24×36 keeps the soundings readable from across a room.
- Black frames suit the engraved black-and-blue palette of Coast Survey charts.
- Pair the harbor chart with the world map for the sailor with ambitions.