Description
Fifth edition of Capt. Lawrence Furlong’s The American Coast Pilot, belonging to Capt. Ebenezer Andrews of Dighton, Massachusetts.
Octavo, xii, [2], [15]-408pp. Full leather, title “Blunt’s Coasting Pilot” stamped on spine with gilt worn away. Leather covers rubbed and scuffed, worn along edges and corners. Front free endpaper and pastedown missing with hinge cracked, binding stable. Stated “October, 1806” at bottom of title page. Foxing to text pages, with occasional mild dampstaining. Front flyleaves are loose with fore edges tattered. Twelve maps (three folded), very good condition with some mild browning and a few dampstains, lacking map of Charleston Harbour. Handwritten notations on front and rear flyleaves and page 203. Contemporary owner’s name in ink on front flyleaf: “Ebenezer Andrews / Dighton.” A nice example of this early American navigational guide.
Full title: The American Coast Pilot: Containing the Courses and Distances Between the Principal Harbours, Capes and Headlands, from Passamaquoddy, through the Gulph of Florida; With Directions for sailing into the same, describing the Soundings, Bearings of the Light-houses and Beacons from the Rocks, Shoals, Ledges, &c. Together with the Courses and Distances from Cape Cod and Cape Ann to Georges’ Bank, through the South and East Channels, and the setting of the Currents, With the Latitudes and Longitudes of the Principal Harbours on the Coast. Together with a Tide Table. Ebenezer Andrews was a sea captain who was born in Dighton, Massachusetts in 1785, later moving to Fall River in the 1820s. Capt. Andrews sailed the world, traveling to ports in South America, Europe and Asia. He was associated with a number of vessels during his career, either as master or part owner. Among the ships he commanded were the Hope, John Brown and Superior. In 1837, Capt. Andrews moved to Providence, Rhode Island, eventually becoming a merchant in the hay, grain and salt business. Retiring in 1848, Capt. Andrews returned to Dighton, where he died in 1858. He is buried in the Unitarian Church Cemetery.
