United States Hydrographic Office
Encyclopedia
The United States Hydrographic Office prepared and published maps, charts, and nautical books required in navigation.
The office was established by an act of 21 June 1866 as part of the Bureau of Navigation
, Department of the Navy
.
It was transferred to the Department of Defense
on 10 August 1949.
The office was abolished on 10 July 1962, replaced by the Naval Oceanographic Office
.
The Hydrographic Office was established "for the improvement of the means for navigating safely the vessels of the Navy and of the mercantile marine, by providing, under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy, accurate and cheap nautical charts, sailing directions, navigators and manuals of instructions for the use of all vessels of the United States, and for the benefit and use of navigators generally".
The purpose was to empower the Navy Department to give navy and merchant ships the results of surveys and explorations by naval officers in foreign waters. The office was not envisioned as being a rival to the British Admiralty hydrographic office or the French depot of charts, but as an office that could publish charts and directions where there was sufficient information available, priced to cover the cost of paper and printing but not the cost of preparation.
In 1873 the office prepared the instruments needed to determine by using the electric telegraph the longitude of West Indian islands and of points on the northern coast of South America where telegraph cables had been laid.
A survey of the Gulf of Mexico
had found many errors. Some surveying had been carried out in the Pacific ocean.
In July 1875 the Commodore responsible for the office, describing the work that had been accomplished in the previous year, called for a permanent building with proper fireproofing instead of the temporary rented premises, and asked for funding to conduct a proper survey of the Pacific ocean, for which the charts were in many areas inadequate.
That year a great deal had been achieved in charting the Caribbean.
By 1880 the office was divided into the Division of Archives, Chart Division, Meteorological Division, Division of Drafting and Engraving and Division of Longitudes.
The office had published about 700 charts of foreign coasts.
In 1881 the office employed 22 naval officers and 28 civilians.
An 1889 report described the function of the office as mainly being reconnaissance of foreign coasts, office duties and publication of compiled maps. The Coast and Geodetic Survey of the Treasury Department was responsible for the systematic hydrographic survey of the coasts of the United States.
That year the office employed 39 officers and 40 civilians.
The office gave out instruments for meteorological observations to the masters of vessels willing to record and report their findings, requiring only that they take reasonable care of the instruments.
In 1894 the hydrographic office paid the sum of $20,000 for patents taken out by a former employee for engraving machines, which would greatly reduce the time and cost of engraving soundings, compasses and border shadings. A number of these machines were in use by 1907.
In 1946 the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office published an ice atlas covering the North American Arctic on a scale of about 1:20,000,000.
In 1954 aerial observation of sea ice moved from development into operations, with navy weathermen trained by the Hydrographic Office.
Information was transmitted to the Hydrographic office, which prepared forecasts used in planning movement of shipping.
|title=Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York, Volume 5
|last=American Geographical Society of New York
|publisher=American Geographical Society of New York |year=1874}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=_ypHAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA17
|title=1874 Annual report of the Secretary of the Navy
|author=United States. Navy Dept
|publisher=Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off. |year=1874}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=S49MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA468
|title=Report upon United States Geographical surveys west of the one hundredth meridian
|author=Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian (U.S.), George Montague Wheeler, Andrew Atkinson Humphreys, Horatio Gouverneur Wright
|publisher=Govt. Print. Off. |year=1889}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=UiAXAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA108
|title=Abridgment of messages and documents
|author=President of the United States
|year=1866}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=Hocj26LFyPwC&pg=PA64
|title=Testimony before the Joint commission to consider the present organizations of the Signal service, Geological survey, Coast and geodetic survey, and the Hydrographic office of the Navy department: with a view to secure greater efficiency and econommy of administration of the public service in ...
|author=United States Congress. Joint Commission to Consider the Present Organizations of the Signal Service, Geological Survey, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Hydrographic Office of the Navy Dept
|publisher=Govt. print. off. |year=1886}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=IPvxNqDjeXYC&pg=PA354
|title=Naval encyclopædia: comprising a dictionary of nautical words and phrases; biographical notices, and records of naval officers; special articles of naval art and science
|publisher=L. R. Hamersly & co. |year=1880}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=pDErAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA22
|title=Arctic sea ice: proceedings of the conference
|last=Office of Naval Research United States.
|publisher=National Academies |year=1958}}
|url=http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/037.html
|title=Records of the Hydrographic Office
|work=National Archives
|accessdate=2011-09-22}}
The office was established by an act of 21 June 1866 as part of the Bureau of Navigation
Bureau of Navigation (United States Navy)
The U.S. Navy's Bureau of Navigation was established in 1862 as part of the reorganization of the Navy Department. Principal responsibilities were to provide nautical charts and instruments and to oversee several activities involved navigation research, including the Naval Observatory...
, Department of the Navy
United States Department of the Navy
The Department of the Navy of the United States of America was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, to provide a government organizational structure to the United States Navy and, from 1834 onwards, for the United States Marine Corps, and when directed by the President, of the...
.
It was transferred to the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
on 10 August 1949.
The office was abolished on 10 July 1962, replaced by the Naval Oceanographic Office
Naval Oceanographic Office
The Naval Oceanographic Office , located at John C. Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi, comprises approximately 1,000 civilian, military and contract personnel responsible for providing oceanographic products and services to all elements within the Department of Defense.Valued by maritime...
.
Objectives
Before the hydrographic office was established in 1866, U.S. navigators were almost entirely dependent on British charts. A few private enterprises had prepared and published charts, but had not been able to do so profitably.The Hydrographic Office was established "for the improvement of the means for navigating safely the vessels of the Navy and of the mercantile marine, by providing, under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy, accurate and cheap nautical charts, sailing directions, navigators and manuals of instructions for the use of all vessels of the United States, and for the benefit and use of navigators generally".
History
The impetus for establishing the Hydrographical Office came from a petition submitted to Congress in 1863 by the American Shipmasters Association. A Senate committee prepared a report, and a Senate bill was passed on 24 June 1864.The purpose was to empower the Navy Department to give navy and merchant ships the results of surveys and explorations by naval officers in foreign waters. The office was not envisioned as being a rival to the British Admiralty hydrographic office or the French depot of charts, but as an office that could publish charts and directions where there was sufficient information available, priced to cover the cost of paper and printing but not the cost of preparation.
In 1873 the office prepared the instruments needed to determine by using the electric telegraph the longitude of West Indian islands and of points on the northern coast of South America where telegraph cables had been laid.
A survey of the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
had found many errors. Some surveying had been carried out in the Pacific ocean.
In July 1875 the Commodore responsible for the office, describing the work that had been accomplished in the previous year, called for a permanent building with proper fireproofing instead of the temporary rented premises, and asked for funding to conduct a proper survey of the Pacific ocean, for which the charts were in many areas inadequate.
That year a great deal had been achieved in charting the Caribbean.
By 1880 the office was divided into the Division of Archives, Chart Division, Meteorological Division, Division of Drafting and Engraving and Division of Longitudes.
The office had published about 700 charts of foreign coasts.
In 1881 the office employed 22 naval officers and 28 civilians.
An 1889 report described the function of the office as mainly being reconnaissance of foreign coasts, office duties and publication of compiled maps. The Coast and Geodetic Survey of the Treasury Department was responsible for the systematic hydrographic survey of the coasts of the United States.
That year the office employed 39 officers and 40 civilians.
The office gave out instruments for meteorological observations to the masters of vessels willing to record and report their findings, requiring only that they take reasonable care of the instruments.
In 1894 the hydrographic office paid the sum of $20,000 for patents taken out by a former employee for engraving machines, which would greatly reduce the time and cost of engraving soundings, compasses and border shadings. A number of these machines were in use by 1907.
In 1946 the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office published an ice atlas covering the North American Arctic on a scale of about 1:20,000,000.
In 1954 aerial observation of sea ice moved from development into operations, with navy weathermen trained by the Hydrographic Office.
Information was transmitted to the Hydrographic office, which prepared forecasts used in planning movement of shipping.
Sources
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=-slwZO76r68C&pg=PA246|title=Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York, Volume 5
|last=American Geographical Society of New York
|publisher=American Geographical Society of New York |year=1874}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=_ypHAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA17
|title=1874 Annual report of the Secretary of the Navy
|author=United States. Navy Dept
|publisher=Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off. |year=1874}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=S49MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA468
|title=Report upon United States Geographical surveys west of the one hundredth meridian
|author=Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian (U.S.), George Montague Wheeler, Andrew Atkinson Humphreys, Horatio Gouverneur Wright
|publisher=Govt. Print. Off. |year=1889}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=UiAXAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA108
|title=Abridgment of messages and documents
|author=President of the United States
|year=1866}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=Hocj26LFyPwC&pg=PA64
|title=Testimony before the Joint commission to consider the present organizations of the Signal service, Geological survey, Coast and geodetic survey, and the Hydrographic office of the Navy department: with a view to secure greater efficiency and econommy of administration of the public service in ...
|author=United States Congress. Joint Commission to Consider the Present Organizations of the Signal Service, Geological Survey, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Hydrographic Office of the Navy Dept
|publisher=Govt. print. off. |year=1886}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=IPvxNqDjeXYC&pg=PA354
|title=Naval encyclopædia: comprising a dictionary of nautical words and phrases; biographical notices, and records of naval officers; special articles of naval art and science
|publisher=L. R. Hamersly & co. |year=1880}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=pDErAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA22
|title=Arctic sea ice: proceedings of the conference
|last=Office of Naval Research United States.
|publisher=National Academies |year=1958}}
|url=http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/037.html
|title=Records of the Hydrographic Office
|work=National Archives
|accessdate=2011-09-22}}