Historical Pirate Maps?

[Mick MacAnselan]

Anyone know if there's such a thing as a map showing the (then known) world from the 'golden age', marked with ports/routes of the most well known pirates/privateers? TIA.

[Captain Morgana Bloodheart]

I've been looking for maps like that meself with not much luck.

Only thing I have found are these from EBAY

http://search.ebay.com/Caribbean-Map_W0QQs...rectZ1QQfromZR8

[Sjöröveren]

Here's some pre-1800 maps of the Caribbean at The Library of Congress.

[Red Maria]

Anyone know if there's such a thing as a map showing the (then known) world from the 'golden age', marked with ports/routes of the most well known pirates/privateers? TIA.

Closest thing I know is a derrotero in the library I work at. A derrotero was a Spanish atlas that had detailed navagational charts and sailing instructions for the coast of the Americas. They were treated as state secrets meant only for Sapininsh use. They showed danger points and assisted in the correct fixing of a vessel's position when entering a port or sailing along the coast, indicating perfered watering places, harbor entrances, and achorages. They were in manuscript form. The one here was pillaged by Capt. Morgan himself during the sack of Panama.

How's that for booty! :)

[blackjohn]

Derrotero? Wow! That's really neat, and I'll take a guess that it is the Spanish word for what we would call a portolan. I'm a nautical cartographer by trade, so these things have always fascinated me.

Blackjohn

[Red Maria]

Derrotero? Wow! That's really neat, and I'll take a guess that it is the Spanish word for what we would call a portolan. I'm a nautical cartographer by trade, so these things have always fascinated me.

Blackjohn

It's proably the same thing. There's also an English version of the derrotero made from that same one that Morgan plundered here too. There are alot of maps and atlases in the library's collection. Including one that shows a city in the Arabian desert that doen't exist anymore. It was lost for centuries. The map was used to find it again.

[blackjohn]

Ok, I'm jealous. Where do you work, and can I come see them!?!?!

Blackjohn

[piratelassie]

I'm a nautical cartographer by trade, so these things have always fascinated me.

Blackjohn

tha must be a wicked cool job

[blackjohn]

It has its moments... like the other day, when I was researching a hydrographic survey done at Cape Canaveral in 1875, and I saw on the survey that the ship's surgeon and the apothecary were listed as part of the surveying team. That was neat.

Hmmm... reminds me of...

Chapter 2. Inigo

Inigo was in Despair.

Hard to find on the map (this was after maps) not because cartographers didn't know of its existence, but because when they visited to measure its precise dimensions, they became so depressed they began to drink and question everything, most notably why would anyone want to be something as stupid as a cartographer? It required constant travel, no one ever knew your name, and, most of all, since wars were always changing boundaries, why bother?

Blackjohn

[piratelassie]

It has its moments... like the other day, when I was researching a hydrographic survey done at Cape Canaveral in 1875, and I saw on the survey that the ship's surgeon and the apothecary were listed as part of the surveying team. That was neat.

Hmmm... reminds me of...

Chapter 2. Inigo

Inigo was in Despair.

Hard to find on the map (this was after maps) not because cartographers didn't know of its existence, but because when they visited to measure its precise dimensions, they became so depressed they began to drink and question everything, most notably why would anyone want to be something as stupid as a cartographer? It required constant travel, no one ever knew your name, and, most of all, since wars were always changing boundaries, why bother?

Blackjohn

Ahhh Princess Bride. Great book that. Hallo. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. And then of course there is the part in the end where Wesley asks if Inigo has ever considered piracy. But as to the cartography thing, it sort of reminds me of a quote from Moby Dick: It is not down in any map: True places never are.

Oh, and forgive my spouting, but there's this book called The Nautical Chart, by Arturo Perez Reverte, and it's about a mystery involving a shipwreck and a nautical chart. Being in the profession, you'd probably get a lot more out of it than I did

[Red Maria]

Ok, I'm jealous. Where do you work, and can I come see them!?!?!

Blackjohn

It's The Huntington Library in San Marino, CA. Unfortuneately I can't even see the derroterro or it's English counter part. They are in a vault underneath the Library made strong enough to withstand a nucelar blast. I think the other map I mentioned is there too. Among things like the bible Mary Queen of Scots was holding during her execution. They are only brought out on rare occasions. I'd love to handle that derroterro. Imagine holding something Capt. Morgan once held!

This is a post doctoral library so unless you have a Phd. it hard to get a readers card. You have to fill out an appplication say what you want to see and why, get letters of recommendation from know scholars etc. I'm just so lucky I work here! I can do research use rare or refernce. But even the maps in the reference collection a wonderful and if you're in town you can be my guest and we'll look at them. :)

[Rumba Rue]

I found two maps at two different Thrift stores, several years apart; both are framed and perfect for hanging on the the PRP encampment posts for people to see. Both are of the Carribean, one shows Jamaica and I have a small arrow that says 'You are here' pointing to Port Royal, and the other map is more of the east coast of the USA showing shipping lanes. Both are done 'old' to make them look that way.

You just never know where you're going to find things!

Rumba Rue

**Queen of Treasures at Thrift Stores**