{{short description|American navigator and publisher (1770–1862)}} {{About||the 19th-century New York pilot boat|Edmund Blunt (pilot boat)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = Edmund March Blunt | image = Edmund March Blunt.jpg | image_caption = Edmund March Blunt (1770–1862). | image_size = | birth_date = {{birth date|1770|06|20}}<ref name="Allibone1859">{{cite book|author=Samuel Austin Allibone|title=A critical dictionary of English literature, and British and American authors living and deceased|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0MIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA211|accessdate=May 22, 2013|year=1859|page=211}}</ref> | birth_place = Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States<ref name="Allibone1859"/> | death_date = {{death date and age|1862|01|04|1770|06|20}} | death_place = Sing Sing, New York, United States | title = | alma_mater = | occupation = Navigator, publisher, writer | spouse = Sarah Ross<ref>New York Marriages, 1686-1980.</ref> }} [[File:1822 map of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.jpeg|thumbnail|The harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, by Blunt, 1822]] '''Edmund March Blunt''' (June 20, 1770 – January 4, 1862) was an American navigator, writer, and publisher of nautical magazines.<ref name="Brown1899">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=John Howard |title=Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States, Volume 1 |date=1899 |page=333 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rPoUAAAAYAAJ&q=Edmund+March+Blunt&pg=PA333 |accessdate=22 August 2018}}</ref> He established a nautical book and chart publishing firm that became the largest publishing firm in the early 19th century.<ref name="EM Blunt">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pjYIAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22E+&pg=PA16|title=National Ocean Survey Historical Cartobibliography II: Age of Exploration|first=National Ocean Survey Physical Science Services Branch Cartographic Support|last=Section|date=December 16, 1982|publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Survey|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1796, he published ''American Coastal Pilot'', which described every port of the United States. Blunt created a map in 1796 of what is now the Federated States of Micronesia.<ref name=WDL>{{cite web|title=A New Chart of Part of the North Pacific Ocean Exhibiting the Various Straits, Islands and Dangers|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/348/|publisher=World Digital Library|accessdate=May 23, 2013}}</ref>
==Personal life== Blunt was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire,<ref name="Allibone1859"/> and lived in Sing Sing, New York.<ref name="Allibone1859"/><ref name="Jenkins1911"/> He had four sons: Nathaniel B., Edmund, George and Joseph.<ref name="Allibone1859"/> Edmund Blunt was a hydrographer.<ref name="Allibone1859"/> Mount Blunt in Antarctica is named for him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names/domestic-names?p=138%3A3%3A0%3A%3ANO%3A%3AP3_ANTAR_ID%2CP3_TITLE%3A1562%2CMount%20Blunt|title=Domestic Names | U.S. Geological Survey|website=www.usgs.gov}}</ref>
==Nautical publisher==
Blunt published the ''Impartial Herald,'' under the firm name of Blunt and Robinson, which was established on May 18, 1793. The firm was dissolved on February 28, 1794, and Blunt became the publisher of the ''Herald''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Franklin P.|last=Rice|title=Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lVxIAAAAYAAJ&q=Impartial+Herald%2C+Edmund+March+Blunt%2C+Robinson&pg=PA440|date= 1915 |place= Worcester, Massachusetts |volume= V.25}}</ref> In December, 1794, under the new firm name of Blunt & March, he united the ''Morning Star'' with the ''Impartial Herald.'' By 1795, the ''Impartial Herald'' was published twice a week. In 1796, Blunt sold his interest in the paper to Angier March who continued the publication until it was merged with the ''Political Gazette'' in 1797 when the name changed to the ''Newburyport Herald''.<ref>{{cite book|first=John J.|last=Currier|title=History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mcnTDwAAQBAJ&q=Impartial+Herald%2C+Edmund+March+Blunt&pg=PA507|date=1906|place= Newburyport, Mass.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Whig and Courier.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/662995054/?terms=%22Impartial%2BHerald%22%2BBlunt|work=Bangor Daily Whig and Courier|place=Bangor, Maine|date=1853-01-18|page=2}}</ref> When Blunt sold the ''Impartial Herald,'' he published the ''American Coast Pilot'' in 1796, in Newburyport, Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Nelson |title=Notes Toward a History of the American Newspaper|volume= V.1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x5tZAAAAMAAJ|place= New York|date=1918|publisher=C. F. Heartmann }}</ref> It was published until 1858 by the United States Hydrographic Office, reaching 21 editions by 1867. Its final publication was produced in New York. (Sabin 6025).<ref name="Allibone1859"/><ref name="Jenkins1911"/> Blunt expanded chart coverage into the Pacific Ocean and in 1857, expanded into the Indian Ocean.<ref name="EM Blunt"/>
===Move to New York=== By 1815, Blunt had moved to New York where he opened a place of business at 202 Water Street, Beekman Slip, New York, "where charts and pilots for every part of the world, nautical books of every description, sextants, circles, quadrants, spy glasses, compasses and every nautical and mathematical instruments requisite at sea may be had on the most reasonable terms."<ref name="Jackson">{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Russell Leigh |title=Edmund March Blunt|work=The Essex Institute Historical Collections|place=Salem, Mass.|date=1943|page=12|oclc=191103035 }}</ref>
In 1824, his two sons, George and Edmund went into business with their father at the publishing house of marine works called E. & G. W. Blunt Publishing. Blunt published ''Blunt's Coastal Pilot'', which became ''American Coast Pilot''.<ref name=WDL/><ref name="Jenkins1911">{{cite book|author=Stephen Jenkins|title=The greatest street in the world: the story of Broadway, old and new, from the Bowling Green to Albany|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_LJQsAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=May 22, 2013|year=1911|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_LJQsAAAAMAAJ/page/n400 370]}}</ref> The firm closed in 1872 and sold the chart copyrights and plates to the Coast Survey and U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office.<ref name="EM Blunt"/>
From 1819 to 1826 he conducted marine surveys on the Bahama Islands and the Nantucket Shoals. He made the first accurate survey of the New York harbor.<ref name="Jackson"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Wilson |first=James Grant |title=Appleton's cyclopedia of American biography|work=D. Appleton and Co.|place=New York, New York|date=1897|page=297|oclc=30316981 }}</ref>
==Death== Blunt died at his residence in Sing Sing, Westchester County, New York on Saturday January 4, 1862, at 92. His funeral was at the Presbyterian church in Sing Sing.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/329290631/?terms=Edmund%2BBlunt|title=Died|work=New York Daily Herald|place=New York, New York|date=1862-01-06|page=5|access-date=2020-09-22}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Portal|Biography}} {{commons category}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blunt, Edmund March}} Category:1770 births Category:1862 deaths
Category:Sailors from New Hampshire Category:People from Portsmouth, New Hampshire Category:People from Ossining, New York Category:19th-century American explorers Category:18th-century American publishers (people) Category:American magazine publishers (people) Category:American maritime navigators