Ode To Oceanography: A Vintage Chart Of Seattle, Washington

A photograph of the Space Needle as seen from downtown Seattle. This prominent building is featured on today’s nautical chart, & is easily visible from the coastline. Credit to Insight Pest Solutions.

Today’s map is a relatively modern 58-year-old nautical chart of Seattle, Washington.

The chart is fairly large, at 33.7 inches long by 46 inches wide. It features the entire Seattle Harbour as it was in 1966, along with depth measurements for the entire area. It is in amazing condition for its age, with minor signs of wear near the edges.

In today’s article, we are going to examine this antique map, discuss it, & perform an analysis of it. With that being said, let’s delve into the cold, unforgiving waters of the Pacific Northwest!

The Map Itself

A vintage nautical chart of Seattle Harbour, Washington. Credit to the United States Coast & Geodetic Survey.

This chart focuses on the Seattle Harbour, as well as the surrounding Elliott Bay. It includes important information about water depth, local channels, marine life, lighthouses, buoys, coastal features, headlands, & roads in & around Seattle. It also includes important islands such as Harbor Island.

There are approximately 4 compass roses littered on the map, useful to any sailor looking to traverse the harbour. Information about submerged rocks, ruins, or rocky coastlines would have aided mariners in avoiding collisions. Brief information about local marine life can be seen, with remarks about dolphins in the harbour, & seagrass on the seabed.

At the bottom of the chart, a table with tidal information for Seattle can be seen. According to it, the average tide level is approximately 6.6 feet. Below it, information about abbreviations for different coastal features, buoys, & coastal light sources can be found. To the right of this table, another table containing information on water depth in the Duwamish Waterway can be found, based on surveys by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducted in May of 1966.

A publisher’s ink stamp can be seen at the very bottom of the chart in blue ink, indicating that the chart was published on June 10th, 1967. A second seller’s ink stamp can be seen to the right, illustrating that after being published, it found its way into the hands of Max Kuner Co. Nautical Instruments, Charts, & Technical books.

Max Kuner Co. was originally started by mariner & watchmaker Max Kuner in 1897 in the Seattle Harbour. Upon his passing in the 1930’s, his wife, Anna Kuner, took over the business. After her passing in 1943, it was sold to Tom Williamson, a longtime employee of theirs. Eventually, a returning WW2 Navy Veteran named Leonard Schrock opened a shop in Downtown Seattle. When Tom passed away, Leonard purchased the store. For many years, both stores co-existed in waterfront Seattle, until both were consolidated into a single location. Modernly, the store is called Captain’s Nautical is Captain's Nautical Books & Charts, & continues to fulfill orders online.

A photograph depicting Captain’s Nautical Books & Charts storefront prior to it being moved online. Credit to Captain’s Nautical Books & Charts.

Additionally, the chart is coloured, with yellow being used to indicate land, light blue used to indicate coast, & white used to indicate water.

An Analysis Of The Map

This chart was designed by the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey, one of the precursors to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. The United States Coastal & Geodetic Survey was the first scientific agency established by the United States Government, established in 1807. The Agency was unfortunately abolished in 1970, when it was merged with several other agencies to create the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. The chart was released in 1967. It is titled “Seattle Harbour: Elliott Bay & Duwamish Bay”.

This chart was originally manufactured for civilian as well as military use. It is extremely accurate, with headlands, seabed composition, rocks, piers, & roads depicted accurately.

Upon considering the incredible quality & detail of the chart, the publishing house it belongs to, & the time it was manufactured in, it was manufactured using lithography.

Lithography is a method of printing that arose in the 1820s, & remained the most popular method of printing in both color & grayscale until the early 1960s, when more efficient methods became available. Although it has existed since the mid-1790s, it took a long time to gain popularity in Europe due to technical difficulties, & only began gaining commercial popularity in the early 1820s. It is still widely used for certain kinds of printing, such as fine art printing today, however, digital printing is far more common.

Considering the time this chart was manufactured, it was likely manufactured using offset lithography. During the printing process, an inked metal, often aluminum or tin plate with an image or text is printed onto a rubber blanket before being transferred, or offset, to its final medium such as paper, wool, tin, cardboard, or leather.

A photograph of a dolphin spotted in Puget Sound off the coast of Seattle, Washington. Today’s nautical chart indicates different areas of the harbour where dolphins have been historically spotted. Credit to Fox13 Seattle.

Directories / Credits

All credit for this map analyzed today goes to Rare Maps, a California rare & antique maps store. To purchase this chart, antique atlases, or other cartographic objects, please visit www.raremaps.com. To be clear, this is not an advertisement for Rare Maps, as we do not have a partnership with them.

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