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French edition of Anthony's Smith's extremely rare chart of the Chesapeake, which appeared in Neptune Americo-Septentrional, the Sea Atlas prepared for use by the French Navy during the American Revolution.
Smith's map of the Chesapeake is of tremendous importance, being the most accurate and up to date map of the region during the mid-18th Century. Nothing is known of the actual authorship of the chart, although it is assigned to Anthony Smith of St. Marys. Nothing has been found on this man, who, to judge from the charts, must have been exceptionally well informed regarding below sea-level and littoral characteristics of the Chesapeake Bay and its estuarine rivers. The map is now virtually unobtainable, making the Sartine essentially the only means by which a collector can obtain this important Revolutionary War chart.
Sartine made excellent use of the Smith map and added in information contemporary to the American Revolution, including an annotation referencing the burning of Norfolk in January 1776. The map provides the best available details of the available soundings, anchorages, channels, shoals, and navigational sightings, Fort Johnson and the town of Brunswick. Cohen & Taliaferro note that no complete example of the Smith map has appeared on the market in the past decade. The map was used 3 years later by De Grasse and his commanders when they blockaded the entrance to the Chesapeake during the Siege of Yorktown.
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