(Text Page to) Directions: for sailing along the coast of North America. (1)

• Main Authors: Norman, William, -1807, Carleton, Osgood, 1742-1816
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Norman, William, -1807 1794
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~356207~90123101; https://media.davidrumsey.com/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size4/RUMSEY~8~1/205/14485004.jpg

Descriptions of navigation routes. Includes sections: Directions for sailing into Halifax Harbour. -- Narraganset Bay. With remarks by Osgood Carleton. Spans three unnumbered pages. The American Pilot : Containing the navigation of the sea coast of North America, from the streights of Belle Isle to Cayenne, including the island and banks of Newfoundland, the West India islands, and all the islands on the coast … Published by William Norman in Boston, 1794. Folio; rebound in half calf over boards. Atlas comprised of eleven charts (including one ancillary chart and one inset chart). Charts show coastlines, cities, topography, vegetation, bodies of water, drainage, bays, ports, anchorage, shoals, rocks, directions of currents, and depths, given in fathoms. One chart features pictorial illustrations of ships and a sea monster; another provides descriptive notes with navigational instructions. Copper-plate engravings. The 1794 version of John and William Norman's American Pilot features foundational maps of Nantucket by Pinkham and the Carolinas by Daniel Dunbibin. This atlas is among the earliest to be published in the United States. In 1785, John Norman had proposed to the Massachusetts legislature to print a "Correct Set of Compleat Maps" depicting the coast from Newfoundland's Banks to the Gulf of Mexico. These maps were meant to align with the recent surveys conducted by the British Government, such as those by J.F.W. Des Barres, Samuel Holland, and others published in the Atlantic Neptune. Norman's proposal claimed that these drafts would be published on different scales to enhance their usefulness and offer printed directions and observations for mariners. This would enable safer navigation along the extensive sea coast. John Norman announced in the Boston Gazette on January 1, 1790, that he was engraving new charts of the entire American coast on a large scale. The American Pilot proved a great success. Following the first edition, he reissued the work in 1792 and 1794, after which his son William published ...