Craven County Digital History Exhibit

   Mackay. A Survey of the Coast about Cape Lookout in North Carolina (1768)

Accession Number TP.1957.009.001  

Title

Map: “A Survey of the Coast about Cape Lookout in North Carolina…”

 

Maker

Artist/ cartographer: Arthur Mackay

Engraver: Unknown

Printer/ publisher: Thomas Jefferys

 

Material

Laid paper, ink

 

Origin

England, London

 

Date:

1768

 

Dimensions:

Paper: 17 ¾” X 13 3/8”

Plate: 14 ¼” X 11 13/16”

Image: 13 ¾” X 10 5/8”

 

Description:

Engraved map: A Survey of the Coast about Cape Lookout in North Carolina, taken the 29th of June 1756. This Draught is most Humbly Presented to His Excellency Arthur Dobbs Esqr. His Majesties Captain General, Governor & Commander in Chief in & over the Province of North Carolina, & Vice Admiral of the Same, By His Excellencys Most Obedient & most Devoted Humble Servant Arthur Mackay. [top center, below the neat line]  | This harbour is safe from all Winds, having no Bar and a wide Channell to go in; so that a Vessel without Anchors or Cables in a Violent storm, may ride safe. It abounds in a Variety of Fish and Fowl, not only for present expending but large quantities might be caught & cured here. The Spanish Privateers kept a Rendezvous in the Bay the latter end of the late war. The Soundings were taken at low Water, the Tide rises about 5 or 6 feet at common Tides. [lower left quadrant]  | This Shoal was 4 or 5 leagues into the Sea about S.S.E. [lower left corner]

 

Source:

Purchase

 

Relation:

This well-drawn plan of Cape Lookout and the adjacent coast extending about ten miles along the shore on either side of the Cape includes soundings for the approach to the Cape. It was published in Thomas Jefferys’ A General Topography of North America and the West Indies (London, 1768) No. 58. The Spanish privateers mentioned in the text were marauders from St. Augustine, who plundered the North Carolina coast.   

 

Comments:

Arthur Dobbs (1689-1765) served as Royal Governor of North Carolina from 1754 until his death in 1765. Arthur Mackay was deputy to the Surveyor General of North Carolina in 1763.

 

Language:

En

 

Rights:

Permission to use the photograph must be obtained in writing from Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens, New Bern, North Carolina. It must be accompanied by the caption” From the collection of Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens, New Bern, North Carolina; North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archive and History.”

Map Images:

Click on an image to enlarge that image.

              
    

Images scanned by Dean Knight
Text prepared by Nancy Richards and Victor T. Jones, Jr.

Last edited: August 21, 2018

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