Basin of the North Atlantic Ocean

Historical map of the north Atlantic showing shipping routes and Transatlantic cables.

The trip across the north Atlantic was often a harrowing journey for the thousands of emigrants, tourists, and adventurers from Europe. Prior to the 1830’s, it would take sailing vessels upwards of three weeks to make the crossing, and occasionally as many as 16 weeks in poor weather or calm winds. The introduction of the steam engine drastically shortened the route length to between six and eight days by the time of publication, but the crossing was still not without problems. One such issue was the possibility for collisions on the high seas, so Matthew Maury (who would eventually be known as “Scientist of the Seas”) proposed ocean lanes in an 1855 publication. Many of those proposed lanes can be seen in this map, along with the locations of various Transatlantic Cables, currents, dangerous shoals, and even a whirlpool. Across the top of the page is a profile of the bed of the Atlantic from the coasts of Ireland to Newfoundland.

The map was disbound from Alexander Keith Johnston’s General Atlas and is blank on the verso.