George was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts and also inherited his father's love of the sea, leaving school at the age at the age of fourteen to work on a ship. After five years he gave up life at sea to marry and settled in New York City, where his brother Edmund ran his nautical publishing house. George worked at updating nautical charts of the Bahama Banks and New York Harbor. In 1833 he was named first assistant of the United States Coast Survey and he held that position until his death. He became the leader of the publishing house and authored many of its books and charts. He wrote Memoir of the Dangers and Ice of the North Atlantic Ocean (1845), The Way to Avoid the Center of Our Violent Gales (1868), and Pilot Laws, Harbor and Quarantine Regulations of New York (1869). The Blunt brothers chart business, which published "charts of all the navigable world," was substantial. They also sold compasses, sextants, and nautical instruments of all descriptions. Blunt's books and charts provided the foundation for the United States Hydrographic Office; in 1867, upon his retirement, he sold the copyrights to his Coast Pilot and Practical Navigator, as well as many of the engraved plates for his charts, to the U.S. government, which continued to print them for many years. He was on the board of New York Pilot Commissioners for many years, forwarded complaints to Washington from captains, which led to reform in the lighthouse service, organized the pilot service in New York Harbor, was a harbor commissioner, and was a trustee of the Seaman's Retreat. He also served as commissioner of immigration, was on the committee which licensed sailors' boardinghouses, and helped found the U.S. Lighthouse Board and the Union League Club.

Name: George William Blunt
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 19 Apr 1878
Event Place: Manhattan, New York, New York, United States
Residence Place: Manhattan, N.Y.
Gender: Male
Age: 76
Marital Status: Widowed
Race: White
Occupation: Retal Commissioner
Birth Year (Estimated): 1802
Birthplace: Newbury Port, Mass.
Burial Date: 22 Apr 1878
Cemetery: Greenwood Cem
Father's Birthplace: Massachusetts
Mother's Birthplace: Massachusetts

Reference ID: cn 289454
GS Film Number: 1322566

Citing this Record
"New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2W3W-MML : 10 February 2018), George William Blunt, 19 Apr 1878; citing Death, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,322,566.