This detailed navigational chart shows shallows, sandbars, rocks, and other directions useful to ship captains trying to navigate their way through Boston Harbor. Clearly marked shoals within the harbor occupy present-day reclaimed and developed areas. By using techniques of shading and hachuring, the chart also portrays the inland terrain. It depicts roads, individual buildings, as well as small tracks of land. Published by the French Dépôt des Cartes et Plans de la Marine, this chart was based on one by English hydrographer Joseph Des Barres, which appeared in his Atlantic Neptune (1777-1781).