British military engineer, surveyor, geographer, cartographer and artist, George Gauld, was a key part of the eighteenth century effort to map and chart large swathes of America. He was initially charged by the British Admiralty to chart the coast around West Florida, and later helped to survey great areas of the southern states. During the course of his work, Gauld was taken prisoner by the Spanish several times, the last of which resulted in his repatriation to Britain, where he died shortly afterwards in 1782.

The present document is the first and only edition of Gauld's work concerning sailing in the West Indies. Broken down into short, geographically ordered sections, it instructs the reader on how to navigate the "bulwark of Reefs, Shoals, and Kays or small Islands, without the entrance of Port Royal Harbour, which makes it of difficult access to strangers". 'Remarks and Directions concerning the Channels and for Sailing into Port Royal and Kingston Harbours' was published posthumously by William Faden in 1795, and three years later Faden also published a plan of Port Royal Harbour, which Gauld had completed in 1772.

The directions are incredibly rare; we are only able to trace three institutional examples: Darmstadt University Library, University Library Desden, and the National Library of Australia.