Background

George Blunt was born on March 11, 1802, in Newburyport, Massachussets, United States, the son of Edmund March Blunt and Sally (Ross) Blunt.

Education

George Blunt inherited his father's love of the sea and left school at the age of fourteen to serve five years before the mast.

Career

On his return in 1821 George Blunt settled in New York City, where he established with his brother, Edmund, a publishing house making a specialty of nautical works. He immediately began marine surveys of the Bahama Banks and of New York Harbor for the purpose of revising existing charts. In 1833 he was appointed first assistant of the United States Coast Survey - a position which he held until the time of his death. He was the moving spirit of his publishing house, which was kept constantly busy printing nautical books and charts. Bowditch's Navigator and Blunt's Coast Pilot, both of which were originally published by his father, continued to run into large and numerous editions. The chart business of the firm also grew rapidly; new charts were constantly added to the list and older ones were revised so that by 1863 the Blunts were publishing "charts of all the navigable world, from the best authorities. " As a side line they handled all types of nautical instruments of American manufacture and by means of a dividing engine which was perfected "after a labor of over five years [were] enabled to divide astronomical and nautical instruments to a degree of precision which they [guaranteed] to be equal to the best of foreign make. "

That Blunt's work was basic in the organization of the United States Hydrographic Office is borne out by the fact that, "The first important accessions to the stock of chart-plates came through purchase from the firm of E. & G. W. Blunt, nautical publishers, of New York City, under authority conferred upon the Secretary of the Navy by the Act of Congress establishing the Hydrographic Office. Twenty-four copperplate charts, relating mainly to the coast of America, were thus added to the list of issues; and besides these, the copyrights of Bowditch's American Practical Navigator, and a few volumes of Coast Pilots and Sailing Directions were also acquired by purchase. " Even in the midst of his busy publishing career Blunt never lost his interest in the practical side of navigation. He served for thirty-two years on the Board of Pilot Commissioners; he and his brother constantly forwarded to Washington complaints of captains about the lighthouse service; and it was largely through their efforts that reforms in that bureau were instituted. He found time to help organize the pilotage system in New York Bay and from 1845 up to the time of his death except for a six months' period served as pilot commissioner. He was for a time a harbor commissioner and a trustee of the Seamen's Retreat. In 1852-1854 he served as a commissioner of immigration. With his death, which occurred in New York City, the American sailor lost an interested and devoted friend.

Achievements

• George Blunt was the leader of the nautical publishing house and authored many of its books and charts. He himself edited The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor (1843), Memoir of the Dangers and Ice of the North Atlantic Ocean (1845), The Way to Avoid the Center of our Violent Gales (1868), Pilot Laws, Harbor and Quarantine Regulations of New York (1869). Blunt's books and charts provided the foundation for the United States Hydrographic Office.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Way to Avoid the Centre of Our Violent Gales

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Memoir of the Dangers and Ice in the North Atlantic Ocean

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Connections

In 1821 George Blunt married Martha Garsett.

Father:

Edmund March Blunt

Mother:

Sally (Ross) Blunt

Spouse:

Martha (Garsett) Blunt

Brother:

Edmund Blunt