The Office of Coast Survey is the official chartmaker of the United States . It is an element of the National Ocean Service in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , which is part of the United States Department of Commerce .
38-683: Coast Survey may refer to: Office of Coast Survey , an element of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration established in 1970 United States Coast and Geodetic Survey , a U.S. Government scientific agency of 1807–1970, known as the Survey of the Coast from 1807 to 1836 and as the United States Coast Survey from 1836 to 1878 National Ocean Service , an office of
76-696: A joint resolution of June 14, 1836, gave its formal approval and directed the Treasury to fabricate for the customhouses the standards of weights and measures established by Hassler. By reason of the joint resolution of 1836, the Office of Weights and Measures in the Coast Survey is considered formally established as of that date. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1838. He died on November 20, 1843, and
114-618: A map showing the density of the slave population in the Southern United States . After the conclusion of the American Civil War, the Coast Survey attracted some of the best and brightest scientists and naturalists . It commissioned the naturalist Louis Agassiz to conduct the first scientific study of the Florida reef system . James McNeill Whistler , who went on to paint the iconic Whistler's Mother ,
152-485: Is organized into four components: United States Government chartmaking began in 1807, when President Thomas Jefferson signed a document entitled "An act to provide for surveying the coasts of the United States," which created the U.S. Government's first scientific agency, the Survey of the Coast. While the bill's specific objective was to produce nautical charts , it reflected larger issues of concern to
190-601: Is responsible for preparing and maintaining over a thousand nautical charts covering the exclusive economic zone off the coast of the United States and its territories , extending 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) offshore and covering a total area of 3,400,000 square nautical miles (12,000,000 km ; 4,500,000 sq mi). It also develops hydrodynamic models for coastal management. The Office of Coast Survey employs about 250 United States Government employees and about 50 contractor personnel. It
228-756: The Spanish American War (1898) and World War I (1917–1918). In 1926, they started production of aeronautical charts . During the height of the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Coast and Geodetic Survey organized surveying parties and field offices that employed over 10,000 people, including many out-of-work engineers. In World War II , the Coast and Geodetic Survey sent over 1,000 civilian members and more than half of its commissioned officers to serve as hydrographers , artillery surveyors, cartographers , U.S. Army engineers, intelligence officers, and geophysicists in all theaters of
266-527: The seafloor , responding to maritime emergencies, and searching for underwater obstructions that pose a danger to navigation , the Office of Coast Survey provides the United States with navigation products and information for improving commerce and security and for protecting coastal environments. Among other products and services the office produces U.S. nautical charts . and the United States Coast Pilot . The Office of Coast Survey
304-667: The American Government that would plague his career. In 1818, the United States Congress removed Hassler from his role as superintendent of the Survey of the Coast and gave control to the United States Army , which remained in control until 1832. On July 10, 1832, Congress reestablished the Survey of the Coast on the basis of the original act of 1807. Upon President Jackson's recommendation, Hassler again became its Superintendent. The Survey
342-702: The Coast and Geodetic Survey's successor agency within NOAA, the National Ocean Survey (officially established on October 9, 1970, and renamed the National Ocean Service in 1983) took over its missions, assets, personnel, and facilities. Within the National Ocean Survey, the new Office of Coast Survey received the chartmaking responsibilities formerly assigned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler (October 6, 1770 – November 20, 1843)
380-636: The Coast in 1816. The creative side of Hassler was seen in the design of new surveying instruments. Most original was Hassler's baseline apparatus which involved an idea worked out by him in Switzerland and perfected in America. Instead of bringing different bars in actual contact during the process of baseline measurements, he used four two-metre (6 ft 7 in) iron bars fastened together totaling eight metres (26 ft) in length and optical contact. As early as February–March 1817, Hassler standardized
418-449: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration established in 1970 and known as the National Ocean Survey until 1983 See also [ edit ] Hydrographic survey National Geodetic Survey United States Geological Survey Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Coast Survey . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
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#1732772996018456-506: The Treasury Department as an office within the Survey of the Coast which was reorganized in 1832, where he carried out the early work of establishing the standards of weights and measures in the United States, with the involvement of fellow Swiss immigrant Albert Gallatin , then ambassador of the United States at London, who in 1827 had brought from Europe a troy pound of brass, made at his request by Henry Kater , from which
494-610: The U.S. Navy and U.S. Army were detailed to service with the Survey, and ships of the U.S. Navy and United States Revenue-Marine (renamed the United States Revenue Cutter Service in 1894) were also detailed to its use. In general, Army officers worked on topographic surveys on the land and maps based on the surveys, while Navy officers worked on hydrographic surveys in coastal waters. Alexander Dallas Bache , great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin ,
532-489: The United States, namely national boundaries, commerce, and defense. The early years were difficult. Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler , who was eventually to become the agency's first superintendent, went to England to collect scientific instruments but was unable to return until after the War of 1812 (1812–1815). After his return, he worked on a survey of New York Harbor in 1817, but the United States Congress stepped in to suspend
570-659: The approval of Secretary of the Treasury Samuel D. Ingham and President Jackson he determined to adopt standards for the United States and produce and distribute them to the customhouses. On 3 March 1831, Samuel D. Ingham reported to the President of the Senate Hassler's inspection far advanced and mentioned the Troughton scale as one of the authentic units adopted for the comparison. The Troughton scale
608-761: The bars of his device which were actually calibrated on the Committee Metre (an authentic copy of the Mètre des Archives ) which was the property of the American Philosophical Society , to whom it had been presented by Hassler himself, who had received it from Tralles, a foreign member of the French Committee charged with the construction of the standard metre by comparison with the Toise of Peru, which had served as unit of length in
646-438: The basis of well-conducted military operations, and that the best time to procure them is not when an attack is impending, or when the army waits, but when there is no hindrance to, or pressure upon, the surveyors. That no coast can be effectively attacked, defended, or blockaded without accurate maps and charts, has been fully proved by the events of the last two years, if, indeed, such a proposition required practical proof. Bache
684-597: The establishment of standard of weights and measure for the United States. Up to this time the various customhouses had worked independently of each other. They used separate weights and measures from wherever they could be obtained - most of them came from England - and in some cases the customhouses depended upon the ordinary standards of local officials. On 29 May 1829, the Senate decided a comparison of weights and measures used at customhouses. Five month later, President Andrew Jackson appointed Hassler United States gauger. With
722-663: The grandparents of the also much noted professor of mathematics, Hassler Whitney . Besides several textbooks of science, Hassler produced a publication in 1828 titled A Popular Exposition of the System of the Universe . After his 1818 dismissal from the United States Survey of the Coast, Hassler proved his worth as a theorist, publishing two influential books Elements of Analytical Trigonometry and Elements of Arithmetic Theoretical and Practical . He also wrote
760-431: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Coast_Survey&oldid=1119720830 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Office of Coast Survey Responsible for updating nautical charts , surveying
798-471: The measurement of the meridional arcs in France and Peru . The Committee Metre possessed all the authenticity of any original metre extant, bearing not only the stamp of the committee, but also the original mark by which it was distinguished from the other bars during the operation of standardising. Thus the metre became the unit of length for geodesy in the United States. Indeed, the Committee Metre served as
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#1732772996018836-580: The most reputed French and British makers. After the War of 1812 broke out between the United States and the United Kingdom in 1812, his instruments were confiscated as spoils of war and Hassler was detained in England until 1815 as the British thought him an enemy spy. After Hassler's return to the United States, President James Madison appointed him the first superintendent of the Survey of
874-561: The standard of length for Coast and Geodetic Survey until 1890, when the National Prototype Metre Bar No. 27 allotted to the United States in 1889 at the first General Conference on Weights and Measures arrived in Washington, D.C. However, Hassler had exceeded the spending limitations that had been set for his trip to Europe, and the resulting controversy foreshadowed the frictions between Hassler and
912-582: The standard of mass was derived. This troy pound called troy pound of the United States' Mint at Philadelphia or Pound Troy, 1824 was used as the standard for the coining of money until the twentiest century. The avoirdupoids pound adopted by Hassler had 7000 grains , the Pound Troy,1824 having 5760 grains. In the autumn of 1829, Hassler was appointed as gauger in the New York Custom House. For some time Congress had been discussing
950-455: The summer of 1793, he studied under scientists Jean-Charles de Borda , Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre , Jérôme Lalande and Antoine Lavoisier in Paris. He was employed on the trigonometrical survey of Switzerland before he emigrated to the United States in 1805. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society on 17 April 1807. Through the influence of Albert Gallatin , he
988-428: The thousands of charts required by U.S. Navy ships and other vessels, Bache made a critical decision to send Coast Survey parties to work with U.S. Navy blockading squadrons and Union Army formations in the field, producing hundreds of maps and charts. Bache detailed these activities in his annual reports to the U.S. Congress. Maps were of paramount importance in wartime: It is certain that accurate maps must form
1026-477: The war. Coast and Geodetic Survey civilians on the home front produced over 100 million maps and charts for the Allied Forces. Eleven members of the Survey were killed during the war. On October 3, 1970, the Coast and Geodetic Survey was dissolved as it merged with other U.S. government agencies to form the new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , which was established at the same time. As
1064-421: The work because of tensions between civilian and military control of the agency. After several years of inactivity under the control of the United States Army , the Survey of the Coast was reestablished in 1832, and President Andrew Jackson appointed Hassler as superintendent. It was renamed the United States Coast Survey in 1836. The U.S. Coast Survey was a civilian agency but, from the beginning, members of
1102-548: Was a Coast Survey engraver . The naturalist John Muir was a guide and artist on a survey of the 39th parallel across the Great Basin of Nevada and Utah . The agency was renamed the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878. Its men and women (women professionals were hired as early as 1845) led scientific and engineering activities through the decades. They supported the U.S. war effort during
1140-595: Was a Swiss-American surveyor who is considered the forefather of both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for his achievements as the first Superintendent of the U.S. Survey of the Coast and the first U.S. Superintendent of Weights and Measures. Hassler was born on October 6, 1770 in Aarau , Switzerland . He
1178-653: Was also one of four members of the government's Blockade Strategy Board , planning strategy to essentially strangle the Confederate States of America economically and militarily. On April 16, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring the Union blockade of ports from South Carolina to Texas . Bache's Notes on the Coast provided valuable information for Union naval forces. In 1861, Coast Survey cartographer Edwin Hergesheimer created
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1216-549: Was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson as professor of mathematics at the United States Military Academy from 1807 to 1810. Hassler was unpopular as a teacher and was dismissed on 31 December 1809, when John Calhoun , then Secretary of War , realized that Congress had not authorized the hiring of civilians to staff the academy. Hassler obtained another mathematics professorship at Union College at Schenectady from 1810 to 1811. In 1811, he
1254-481: Was employed by the federal government of the United States to begin a hydrographic survey of the U.S. coast. An Act of Congress on February 10, 1807, appropriated $ 50,000 for the beginning of the work. In 1812, Hassler was appointed the superintendent of the Survey of the Coast by the United States Congress . He was sent to France and England to collect supplies for the project. Hassler bought instruments of
1292-553: Was held to be identical with Bird's Standard Yard of 1760, which had been tested and deemed identical with the British Parliamentary Standard of 1758, which was destroyed in 1834. The fundamentals units of length, mass and capacity recommended by Hassler were adopted by the Treasury Department in 1832. Another meaningful national standard to be adopted in 1832 was the gallon at 231 cubic inches. Appraised by Treasury reports of Hassler's progress, Congress in
1330-596: Was interred in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. The iron-hulled steamship Hassler , built in 1870, was named in his honor. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration survey ship NOAAS Ferdinand R. Hassler (S 250) was also named for Hassler. Hassler's granddaughter, Mary Caroline Hassler Newcomb, married the noted astronomer and mathematician Simon Newcomb . Simon and Mary Caroline Hassler Newcomb were themselves
1368-604: Was renamed the United States Coast Survey in 1836, and in 1878 it became the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey . Hassler also was able to continue his superintendence over the work in Weights and Measures. He became the head of the Office of Standard Weights and Measures (this office was a progenitor of the United States Bureau of Standards created by an Act of Congress on March 3, 1901) in
1406-546: Was the second U.S. Coast Survey superintendent. Bache was a physicist, scientist, and surveyor who established the first magnetic observatory and served as the first president of the National Academy of Sciences . Under Bache, the Coast Survey quickly applied its resources to the Union cause during the American Civil War (1861–1865). In addition to setting up additional lithographic presses to produce
1444-607: Was the son of Magdalena Ernst and Hans Jakob Hassler, a prosperous watchmaker and local official. He attended the Latin school and an advanced private school, then in 1786 the institute that later became the University of Bern . At first he studied law, but became a student of Johann Georg Tralles and changed his academic focus to astronomy, mathematics and physics. From 1791 to 1797 he continued his studies in France and Germany. In
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