Manuscript chart of the Western Atlantic, indicating the various tracks of HMS St. Albans out of the Bermuda station,] marked 1797-1816, centered on Bermuda, black red and sepia ink on paper, 480 x 610 mm, inked graticule, coastlines of the US in green and blue covering parts of the coast from Cape Hatteras up to Nova Scotia, with the Northern Bahamas and Bermuda clearly drawn, with 10 tracks of a ship coming out of Bermuda, some dated, most with some descriptive detail. Light soiling, the paper backed on old Hessian cloth, mounted on board.

A rare and unusual midshipman's chart documenting 10 voyages out of Bermuda to the US coastal regions. They record the track back to England in 1797, and the return to the North American station in 1802, the chase of three French frigates off Chesapeake out into the Atlantic, and other voyages. The naval base in Bermuda came into prominence after Britain lost the 13 colonies, and was an important staging post in the journey from Britain to North America up until then. In the War of 1812, the naval force which took Washington assembled in Bermuda. The HMS St. Albans was launched in 1776 and saw action along the American coast in the War of Independence. In November 1794 they rescued the crew of HMS Actif which was sinking in the mid-Atlantic.