Screwpiles: The Forgotten Lighthouses

Steady Advances in Map and Chart Technology The 1764 Fry-Jefferson map shows tremendous detail for the period. Coastlines are fairly accurate, and rivers and major points of interest—along with cities and towns—are all named and reasonably well placed.

This map is oriented with north at the top, dropping the 17th-century standard showing west at the map’s top.

Fry and Jefferson used more advanced surveying methods to develop their maps. This was an advance over the John Smith 1608 method of using a compass and log to measure angles and distances. The U.S. Coast Survey map, published in 1863, shows how far charts had come since the Fry-Jefferson maps of a hundred years earlier. This chart shows details of soundings and sailing directions, a list of lighthouses, and accurate positions of rivers and bays, as well as cities and towns. The Coastal Survey, under the direction of Superintendent Bache, did extensive work during the lead-up to the Civil War. His effort resulted in new and accurate charts for Charleston, Hampton Roads, the James River, and other important locations along the southern Atlantic and Gulf coastlines.

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