Detailed chart of the Chesapeake Bay from Edmund Blunt’s “American Coast Pilot”.

Although Blunt only claimed the title of publisher of this work originally, he was in fact the primary author. Initially, for marketing purposes, the authorship was credited to the respected mariner, Captain Lawrence Furlong.

This marketing exercise was very successful. First issued in 1796, The American Coast Pilot was the first work of its type dedicated to the United States. It went through numerous editions into the mid 19th century. Blunt’s two sons joined the business and it was finally wound up on 1872, when the contents of the firm were purchased by the United States Navy Hydrographic Office.
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