The Eldridge family’s legacy in Atlantic coastal navigation stretches from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. In 1850, George Eldridge (1821 – 1900) of Chatham, Cape Cod suffered an injury at sea and was forced to convalesce at home. The following year, the ebb current of a great storm formed dangerous new shoals off Chatham which lay directly in the track of schooners carrying freight between Boston and New York. In response, Eldridge began rowing out in a dory to take soundings and in time put together a rough, large-scale chart. Mariners created an immediate demand for this chart. Its popularity was due to two innovative, “user-friendly” features: a large format that made it easy to read under emergency conditions in ill-lit cabins and a practical configuration with South at the top and North at the bottom. This orientation made navigation easier for the southbound skipper who was tacking back and forth against prevailing southerly winds.

“Chart George’s” son, George Washington Eldridge (1845 – 1914), continued in the family business after a disastrous stint as president of a harness factory. Early in his career, George W. moved to Vineyard Haven with his wife and daughters and the Eldridges soon became one of the island’s most prominent families. It was here that George W. conceived the idea of a tide book specifically for Vineyard Sound and other strategic areas, and the first Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book was published in 1875, selling for fifty cents. This book has continued to be updated and published annually through the present day. The publication of bound books of harbor charts, however, was discontinued in 1932. Even so, Eldridge’s charts were so accurate and renowned that, up until World War II, sailors were known to make reference to obsolete editions, many years after they were published.

Although based upon the official government coast surveys, the Eldridge charts were unsubsidized and therefore more expensive. They survived because of good design, simplicity, omission of extraneous shore topography, legible soundings and notes, and the use of compass courses only.