-------- Original Message -------- Subject: 1768 Map depicting the Gulf Stream by Benjamin Franklin Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 11:31:33 -0400 From: Redmond, Edward James <[log in to unmask]> To: 'Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship' <[log in to unmask]> With all the sad happenings in the Gulf of Mexico, there are a plethora contempary maps depicting the forecasted extent of the "event". An historic map related to the Gulf that some may not be aware of is Benjamin Franklin's 1768 map of the Gulf Stream which can be found on the Libray of Congress web site via http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g9112g.ct000753 Franklin's 1768 map can also be seen next to a modern map depicting the approximate flow of the Gulf current around the Florida peniinsula via the Library's "Places in The News" website: http://www.loc.gov/today/placesinthenews/ Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790), one of America's founding fathers, is credited with the discovery of the Gulf Stream, a strong ocean current which flows north from the Gulf of Mexico along the Atlantic coast of the United States, where it joins the Labrador Current and flows eastward. In 1768 Benjamin Franklin and Timothy Folger produced the first map depicting the Gulf Stream which was published the English firm of Mount and Page. The Library of Congress holds one of the three extant copies of this very rare map. Benjamin Franklin. [Franklin-Folger Chart of the Gulf Stream],1768. Printed map. G9112 .G8 1768 .F7 Vault). Geography and Map Division. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g9112g.ct000753 Ed Ed Redmond Geography and Map Reference Specialist Library of Congress