Maps behind The Chart Room

Every shirt in The Chart Room starts with a real historic map. We crop and frame the archival scans, keeping the paper, the folds and the engraved detail, then add our own lettering. Here are the six, with the shirt each one became and a link to the original.

The Gulf Stream, 1768

The Gulf Stream design: Franklin and Folger’s 1768 chart of the North Atlantic, framed in brass

Benjamin Franklin and Timothy Folger. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

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Nantucket Soundings, 1776

The Soundings design: the 1776 chart of Nantucket Island and its shoals, framed in red

Joseph F. W. Des Barres, chart of Nantucket Island and the eastern half of Martha’s Vineyard. Library of Congress.

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North of Known, 1606

The North of Known design: Mercator and Hondius’s 1606 round map of the Arctic, framed in brass

Gerard Mercator and Jodocus Hondius, map of the Arctic, 1606 edition. Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Chesapeake Home Waters, 1857

The Home Waters design: the 1857 Coast Survey chart of Chesapeake Bay, framed in brass

U.S. Coast Survey, Chesapeake Bay, sheet 2. Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Outer Banks, 1861

The Outer Banks design: the 1861 Coast Survey chart of the North Carolina coast, framed in brass

U.S. Coast Survey, sketch of the coast of North Carolina from Oregon Inlet to Ocracoke Inlet. Library of Congress.

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St. Augustine Harbor, about 1762

The St. Augustine design: the plan of the town and harbour of St. Augustine, about 1762, framed in red

Thomas Jefferys, plan of the town and harbour of St. Augustine. Library of Congress, Parallel Histories collection.

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These maps record the knowledge and ideas of their time. The Arctic map includes imagined geography, and historical names and boundaries are as the source documents give them. The engravings on our other shirts are listed in the specimen book.