1864 U.S. Coast Survey Map or Chart of St. Georges River and Muscle Ridge Channel, Maine
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Description: A rare 1864 nautical chart of the Maine coast from Thomaston, MA to Monhegan Island, including the St. George's River and Muscle Ridge Channel. Offers minimal inland detail but a wealth of nautical information including countless depth sounding and notations on the many offshore shoals and other dangers in the region. The lower right quadrant features extensive notations on tides and light houses.
The triangulation for this chart was accomplished by G. A. Fairfield, J. A. Sullivan, F. P. Webber and C. F. Ferguson. The topography is the work of C. Ferguson and F. W. Door. The hydrography was completed by a party under the command of E. Cordell, W. S. Edwards, F. P. Webber, R. El Halter and C. Fendal. Published under the supervision of A. D. Bache for the 1864 Report of the Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey.
Date: 1864 (dated)
Source: Report of the Superintendant of the United States Coast Survey, Washington, (1864 edition).
Cartographer: The Office of the Coast Survey, founded in 1807 by President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of Commerce Albert Gallatin, is the oldest scientific organization in the U.S. Federal Government. Jefferson created the "Survey of the Coast," as it was then called, in response to a need for accurate navigational charts of the new nation's coasts and harbors. The first superintendent of the Coast Survey was Swiss immigrant and West Point mathematics professor Ferdinand Hassler. Under the direction of Hassler, from 1816 to 1843, the ideological and scientific foundations for the Coast Survey were established. Hassler, and the Coast Survey under him developed a reputation for uncompromising dedication to the principles of accuracy and excellence. Hassler lead the Coast Survey until his death in 1843, at which time Alexander Dallas Bache, a great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, took the helm. Under the leadership A. D. Bache, the Coast Survey did most of its most important work. During his Superintendence, from 1843 to 1865, Bache was steadfast advocate of American science and navigation and in fact founded the American Academy of Sciences. Bache was succeeded by Benjamin Pierce who ran the Survey from 1867 to 1874. Pierce was in turn succeeded by Carlile Pollock Patterson who was Superintendent from 1874 to 1881. In 1878, under Patterson's superintendence, the U.S. Coast Survey was reorganized as the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (C & GS or USGS) to accommodate topographic as well as nautical surveys. Today the Coast Survey is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA. Click here for a list of rare maps from the U. S. Coast Survey.
Size: Printed area measures 26 x 37 inches (66.04 x 93.98 centimeters)
Condition: Good. Verso reinforcement and repair on many of the original fold lines. Blank on verso.
Code: MuscleRidge-uscs-1864 (to order by phone call: 646-320-8650)
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