This is the 1883 state of this important chart, first published in 1868. It covers the Chesapeake Bay from its mouth to just north of Baltimore, and includes the Potomac as far as Washington, D.C. It is filled with coastal details, extensive soundings, notes on bottom conditions and fog bells, light houses (colored in yellow and red), and major sailing lanes. George Eldridge was a former captain of a fishing boat out of Cape Cod who first began producing navigational charts in 1851. Most of the Eldridge charts were based on official U.S. Coastal Surveys, produced specifically for mariners and backed with linen for ease of use and storage. A catalogue of Eldridge's charts, published by S. Thaxer & Son, 125 State Street, is pasted down to the verso of the linen and lists 11 charts then offered for sale. These working sea charts are quite rare on the market today.

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Condition: B

Toned with some minor damp stain. Some creasing and cracks at edges that have some old tissue repairs on verso. Still a good example of a 19th Century working sea chart.