Map of the US and British Virgin Islands - Hand-drawn in an antique style

Hand-Drawn Antique-Style Nautical Chart of the US & British Virgin Islands

Map of US and British Virgin Islands. Anegada to St Croix.

Hand-drawn with old-world cartography style—perfect for coastal decor & beach houses.

Nothing is computer-generated here.

The idea for this Virgin Island nautical chart formed around an idyllic day sailing: the trade winds represented by a misty Saint Ursula with her lamp, gently playing with an old sailing ship and the Magnificent Frigatebirds, the passages marked for easy navigation, and I embellished it further with wildlife and my mermaids and sea monsters.

In this map of the British and US Virgin Islands, I've included the Tortola Sloop, sailing ships, and most bays - especially odd favorites like 'Throw Away Wife Bay' off of Great Camanoe Island (some names make you wonder). I've included reefs, shoals and drops, pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds, sea turtles, a nurse shark, a spotted eagle ray, a bottlenose dolphin, and more sea life, mixed in with my mermaids and sea monsters. And, to satisfy a request from my serious gamefish hunting friends, I've included more game fish and favorite fishing spots in this chart.

My charts all include the ports of today—the places we drop anchor, drag anchor, snorkel, dive, encounter curious dolphins, swim up to the beach bar... I use GPS locations, satellite images, and charts as reference material, but they are hand-drawn and not a copy of anything. My maps are accurate compared to the cartographers of old, who were limited to celestial navigation or the captain's rum-soaked notes. Still, I'd advise against navigating with any map that has a mermaid or sea monster drawn on it. These are for dreaming, remembering, and planning the next adventure.

Pour a rum, sit back, and let this map transport you to idyllic days sailing the Virgin Islands. Whether you're a seasoned sailor or an armchair traveler, it's a journey worth framing.

I drew this antique-style map by hand using India ink and layered a watercolor wash over it, creating an old-world style chart embellished with marinelife—both real and imagined. My original drawing was 44"x30" on D'Arches paper.

If you were wondering, Christopher Columbus named the Virgin Islands in honor of St. Ursula.

Technical Details:

Printed using quality Giclée process with archival pigmented inks and acid-free art paper or canvas. With proper care, they should look as good 100 years from now as they do today.
Prints on paper and rolled canvas prints are shipped in a sturdy reinforced cardboard "crush-proof" tube.
Stretched canvas prints ship flat.
The images above are watermarked to protect my work online. Your print will not have watermarks.
Rolled canvas prints are available for those who want to handle the stretching or framing themselves and for oversized custom prints.

From $178.95

Special Orders: Additional Sizes/Stretcher Bar Depth and Finish I've listed my most popular sizes, but larger prints and in-between custom sizes are available. If you need a specific size to fill a space perfectly, contact me for a quote. My stretched canvas prints are ready to hang. The image is on the front of the canvas, and the sides are painted black. I finish my original paintings this way. However, if you prefer the side of the stretcher bars to be white, I can adjust that for you in the order. Make a note of that at checkout. The price is the same. Stretcher bar options #1: If you plan to frame the stretched canvas, a .75" deep stretcher bars can be special-ordered to fit in the rabbit of the frame. Stretcher bar options #2: If you prefer a beefy profile, the 2.5" deep bars will do the trick. These are especially nice where you want a bold profile, visual balance, and added support for larger canvases. Contact me for a quote.

Paper: Canson® Infinity Arches® Aquarelle Rag 310 ARCHES® Aquarelle is recognised by artists as one of the most prestigious watercolour papers with a history that spans many centuries. ARCHES® master papermakers have been producing very high-quality fine art papers since 1492, and today ARCHES® is the only paper mill in France using a traditional cylinder mould process for all its papers, including ARCHES® Aquarelle Rag. Using the traditional watercolour base, the paper has an even natural grain and a felt-marked finish. ARCHES® Aquarelle Rag is manufactured using 100% cotton which contributes to the paper’s natural beauty and feel. The pure white base does not contain any optical brightening agents (OBAs). The unique inkjet receiving layer produces prints with superb colour rendition, deep blacks and pure whites offering photographers, artists and printmakers the opportunity to create images with superb tonal range, excellent highlights and mid-tones. ARCHES® Aquarelle Rag is a prestigious paper and offers artists, printmakers and photographers alike the ability to create digital fine art prints on an authentic ARCHES® paper for both limited and open edition work.

Canvas: Matte or Gloss. I prefer the matte canvas on my antique-style pieces like the maps and the Maya silk paintings as it gives the print a softer vintage feel. And I prefer a matte finish in any situation where direct sunlight or canned lights would cast too much of a glare across the painting/canvas. I use the gloss canvas on most of my oil painting prints as it looks like the original's damar varnish finish. The gloss canvas has a more sleek, modern look. The archival quality, color depth, and detail for matte and gloss are equal. If you prefer one over the other for your decor, please note it at checkout, and I will adjust your order. They are the same price. Technical details: Matte Canvas: This true-matte canvas is a well-textured 19 mil bright white, poly-cotton blend with a matte look and feel. With an eye-popping color gamut and dmax, coupled with critical archival certification, it sets a new standard of exceptionalism in fine art and photographic printmaking. Gloss Canvas: Crystalline gloss canvas by Breathing Color is a 360gsm aqueous canvas that will deliver industry-leading dmax and color gamut a step above every other glossy or matte inkjet canvas available today. The Crystalline line is OBA-free, making it one of the most archival gloss canvases available to date.

Size/Space/Tip Visualizing art filling a specific space on the wall can be tricky. An easy way to see if the size of the print you are considering fits your wall space is to cut a piece of poster board to size and tape it to the wall to see if it is what you need. If the print is on stretched canvas, it is ready to hang. However, a print on paper needs a frame, so you'll need to add inches to the width and height of the posterboard mockup to accommodate mating and framing. Example: A narrow one-inch wide frame with a standard 3-inch wide mat around the artwork would add 8 inches to the width and height. So a 15"x20" print would be 23"x28" when hung.

Savanna Redman

Hand-Drawn Antique-Style Nautical Chart of the US & British Virgin Islands