Des Barre's extraordinary map of Delaware Bay from his atlas, the "Atlantic Neptune".

Des Barres was a Swiss engineer, cartographer and administrator. Although born in Switzerland, he trained at the military college in Greenwich. His opportunity first came in Canada at the beginning of the Seven Years War or French Indian War, as that theatre was known.

His careful surveys drew the admiration of General James Wolfe and one of his early projects was the supervision of a very young James Cook on a chart of the St. Lawrence River. His greatest achievement was the “Atlantic Neptune”, a monumental multi-volume work charting the eastern coast of North America. These charts, produced over a number of years, were so accurate and so important that this atlas is correctly lauded as one of the great cartographic works of the eighteenth century. The charts were the primary source for the Royal Navy during the Revolutionary War and Des Barres continued to revise and update them until the year 1784.

After the War, Des Barres first became Deputy Governor of Cape Breton followed by Governor of Prince Edward Island. He died in 1824 at the age of 102.

Coloured. [USA9643]