Eldridge Chart of Vineyard Sound & Nantucket Shoals, 1874

The story of this map

George Eldridge knew these shoals from the deck before he ever drew them. A Chatham fishing captain who had run aground enough times to want a better chart, he began publishing his own in the 1850s, and by 1874 the Eldridge charts of Vineyard Sound and Nantucket Shoals were what the coasting schooners actually used — the government sheets were accurate, but Eldridge’s carried the local knowledge: which channel to take at half tide, where the rip runs, which buoy had been moved.

This is the 1874 edition from the Leventhal Map Center’s copy, restored from their scan. Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket sit in the middle of the sheet, the Elizabeth Islands run out to Cuttyhunk, Woods Hole and Hyannis are marked with their lights, and the soundings crowd the Nantucket shoals where the Atlantic swell breaks in three fathoms. The hachured hills and the hand-set place names make it as much a portrait of the islands as a navigation chart.

It prints beautifully large. At 24×36 in every sounding is legible, and the long format suits a wall over a sofa or a boat-house bar; the smaller sizes keep the whole sheet at a scale that still reads across a room. Restoration kept the paper tone and the printed notes; nothing has been redrawn.

Before and after

Left: the archive scan exactly as published. Right: the file that goes to the printer.

Archive scanRestored

Restoration notes

Restoration: trimmed the scanner margins, balanced levels while keeping the paper tone (65% of the original colour retained), removed dust and specks, applied gentle sharpening. Stamps, tipped-on notices and the wear of a used chart are kept where they belong to the object; nothing is redrawn.

Every print carries its archive credit on the packing slip. Paper tone and small imperfections of the original are kept on purpose; nothing is redrawn.