Seamanship

George Eldridge first published the Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book in 75. Its new edition, published by the sixth generation of his family, is an impressive feat of continuity

- ANN HOFFNER

THE Little Yellow Book TURNS 150

A couple of summers ago, I took a Sabre 30 from New Jersey to Maine. The first half of the voyage from Atlantic Highlands through New York City to the Cape Cod Canal required intricate timing of wind and current in constricted waters with long distances between harbors. We had cell service the entire way, so we could pull up tidal information online, but it was always point-based. What I needed for planning was information on how the tidal currents changed throughout a day and over a geographic range.

Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book, aka the Little Yellow Book, was my solution. And I'm far from the only boater who sings this book's praises. This year, Eldridge is publishing its 150th edition-an impressive feat of continuity dating back to 1875. That's even longer than the federal government's stand-alone tide and current tables, which started with the year 1867 and ended their physical printings when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration took them online-only in 2020.

Today, Eldridge covers the East Coast from Canada to Key West, Florida. But the book got its start in Massachusetts, where George Eldridge, a cartographer on Cape Cod, published his Pilot for Vineyard Sound and Monomoy Shoals in 1854. He sent his son, also named George, to Vineyard Haven to sell the book, which was a combination of sailing directions and nautical dangers. Their target audience was the crew from schooners waiting for a favorable tide to depart. Those boats had to dodge shifting sands and hidden rocks because the Cape Cod Canal didn't yet exist.

By 1875, the idea for the book had grown into the first edition of Eldridge as we know it today. It was 64 pages long and cost 50 cents. Over the years, new information was added, such as an explanation of unusual currents in the "graveyard" in Vineyard Sound. Many stores began to sell the book around the region.