Franklin-Folger chart of the Gulf Stream

Caption

Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

Catalog notes

A powerful ocean current becomes a visible route-planning problem on this chart. Franklin and Nantucket captain Timothy Folger combined practical maritime knowledge with a printed Atlantic chart to describe the Gulf Stream. The current helps explain why voyages in opposite directions could take very different amounts of time. For a map collection, it offers an engaging example of how observations made at sea can reshape the way people travel.

Original catalog record, source and attribution