Hunting New England Shipwrecks

Dedicated wreck divers depend heavily on maps and charts to help them find what they're looking for. Paper versions of these documents are quickly giving way to electronic ones, and today's divers do more and more of their research on computers. This page contains links to a variety of New England maps and charts, and related chart information. Most of the maps come from the Mapquest World Atlas. Most of the charts come from NOAA's Coast Pilot electronic boater's guides. In addition to these images, numerous Websites provide on-line maps and charts for public use.

Maptech's Map Server provides on-line nautical charts and topographic (topo) maps free of charge. The nautical charts cover all U.S. coastal waters. The topo maps cover inland waterways, as well.

TopoZone provides on-line topographic (topo) maps - free and subscription services.

These days most boaters and divers use electronic charts. They are convenient and fun to use, and very accurate. But choosing a chart viewing system and learning how to use it, requires some effort on your part. If you're new to this endeavor, you'll need to read up on the subject and consult some experts.

Basically there are two types of chart display systems - laptop computers and chart plotters. Because of their versatility, laptops offer more user options than chart plotters. But because they are not splash-proof, laptops are generally not suitable for open boat use. Most chart plotters, on the other hand, are built tough for use in an open boat.

If you're using a laptop computer, you'll need to install chart viewing software and charts, and connect a GPS unit. If you're using a chart plotter, the unit probably will come with all the necessary components and software. For either system, make sure you have all the chart images that you may need. Depending on your system, chart images are stored and loaded onto a hard disk, flash memory card or other storage device.


Laptop Computer	Chart Plotter

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) produces nautical charts for all U.S. coastal waters. For many years, NOAA has produced the paper charts we all know and use. A few years back, the agency created scanned digital images of these charts and made them available for use on computers, chart plotters, etc. These scanned images are known as RNC Charts (also called Raster Charts) and are distributed in BSB electronic file format.

More recently NOAA decided to make all of their RNC charts available to the public free of charge. This decision was made in the interest of boating safety. NOAA now operates a Web site (link below) from which you can download any RNC chart(s). At this site you can also download free chart-viewing software such as NavPac, The Cap'n, or Coastal Explorer. These free viewing programs include most typical functions, except a GPS link. To use these charts with a GPS, you will need a complete version of the chart-viewing software.

Maptech offers similar NOAA raster chart downloads at their Website (link below). Maptech also offers a DVD including a complete set of NOAA raster charts for a nominal charge. It's a great bargain and convenience!

Recently, NOAA has begun to develop ENC Charts (also called Vector Charts). The vector charts are advanced chart images that include a database of related navigation information such as water depths, detailed descriptions of obstructions, etc. With their included database information, ENC charts provide more advanced navigation features than raster charts. NOAA's ENC chart collection is currently under development. Many charts are available now and many more are in the pipeline. As with raster charts, NOAA operates another Web site (link below) from which you can download ENC charts free of charge.

These days many boaters and divers are wondering which electronic chart format (RNC or ENC) is the best one for them to use. Both contain large amounts of information and the chart cost (in some cases free) is basically the same. As shown below, the two chart formats look different, but either can usually do the job.


NOAA RNC (Raster) Chart	NOAA ENC (Vector) Chart

Distance/Bearing Calculator

If you want to calculate the distance and/or compass bearing between any two points on a map or chart, go to ZenithAir.com and use their online Distance/Bearing Calculator.

GPS - History and Description

The National Air and Space Museum (Washington, DC) has an informative Web site on the history and principles of GPS. Click here to go to this site. Another good description of GPS can be found on Garmin's Web site.

Nautical Charts

These nautical chart images are taken from NOAA's Coast Pilot online boating guides.
These files are in PDF format and require Adobe Reader software for viewing.
If you don't have Adobe Reader on your computer, you can download it free of charge
from the Adobe download site.

Click on the image above to see
a neat interactive Earth globe

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