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This rare nautical map offers a detailed and carefully rendered depiction of the southwestern coast of Jamaica, focused on the anchorage at Bluefields Bay (historically spelled “Blewfield’s”). The chart appeared in Captain Joseph Smith Speer’s extremely rare West-India Pilot. The map captures not only coastal soundings and navigational hazards but also estates, rivers, and settlements in the surrounding inland region, reflecting both maritime and colonial interests. 

The harbor, which opens into Bluefields Bay, is shown with soundings in fathoms, highlighting navigational channels, reefs (Roaring Reef, Moor’s Reef), shoals, and points of interest such as Cabo Rojo Point and Bluff Point. Two channels—"Old Channel" and "New Channel"—are shown navigating past the Negroherd with sailing hazards clearly marked. The town of Savanna la Mar, the principal seaport in this part of Jamaica, is shown as a fortified grid of blocks fronted by a central compass rose.

The map also identifies numerous plantations and estates that are labeled and depicted with iconographic windmills, buildings or houses. Nearby rivers such as the Cabrito River and Sweet River are traced inland, flowing into the harbor. This blending of hydrography with plantation geography illustrates the dual importance of ports like Bluefields as maritime hubs and centers of colonial plantation economy.

Bluefields Bay derives its name from the Dutch buccaneer Abraham Blauvelt, who used the sheltered anchorage as a base in the mid-17th century. The bay’s name—originally “Blauvelt’s Bay”—was anglicized to “Blewfields” and later “Bluefields.” Located in Westmoreland Parish, this natural harbor provided excellent protection from prevailing winds and rough seas, making it a favored anchorage for early European mariners and corsairs.

By the latter half of the 17th century, Blewfield’s had become an important point along the Jamaican coast for both naval and commercial activity. After the English conquest of Jamaica from Spain in 1655, the island quickly evolved into a plantation-based colony, with sugar cultivation at its economic core. Bluefields emerged as a strategic export point for goods from surrounding estates and a defensive harbor against piracy and foreign incursions.

By 1715, Bluefields was part of an expanding British colonial plantation complex. The town of Savanna la Mar, originally established in the late 17th century near Bluefields, grew rapidly as a commercial port, exporting sugar, molasses, and rum. The harbor served not only as a shipping point but also as a local naval station, frequently visited by Royal Navy vessels for resupply and anchorage.

Rarity

This is the first example we have ever seen on the market.