1849 U.S. Coast Survey Chart of the Buttermilk Channel (Brooklyn and Governor's Island), New York Ha

Foundations of Brooklyn's Maritime Century.

This is a separately-issued 1849 nautical map or chart of the Buttermilk Channel, situated between Brooklyn and Governor's Island in New York Bay. It was issued just after the completion of the Atlantic Basin, a major project that set off rapid development of shipping facilities and warehouses in Brooklyn.

A Closer Look

This chart covers from Governors Island to Red Hook in Brooklyn, and includes the Atlantic Basin (dock and warehouses) in Red Hook, completed the year before this chart was published. The chart contains a wealth of practical information for the mariner, including soundings, hazards, shoals, buoys, a shipping lane through the channel, a compass rose with magnetic variations, and the position of docks and ferry piers. To the left are sailing directions and information on tides.

The Atlantic Basin

Conceived by visionary developer Colonel Daniel Richards and chartered in 1840, the construction of the Atlantic Basin (originally known as the Atlantic Docks) completely revolutionized New York Harbor and catalyzed the transformation of Brooklyn from a rural, marshy landscape into a global shipping epicenter. Prior to its construction, Red Hook was an isolated expanse of tide mills, creeks, and low-lying marshes. Inspired by the economic boom of the Erie Canal, Richards designed the 40-acre man-made basin to serve as a deep-water terminus for the vast influx of agricultural and bulk goods moving down the canal. By dredging the shallow shoals and utilizing the fill to reclaim the surrounding wetlands, engineers created a secure, deep-water haven that maintained constant water levels regardless of tidal fluctuations.

To remedy the chaotic street congestion that plagued Manhattan's South Street Seaport, the basin was designed so that ocean-going vessels could dock parallel to massive, integrated granite and brick warehouses. This allowed cargo to be hoisted directly from a ship's hold straight into storage without the interference of city traffic. The facility also drove technological advancement, introducing New York Harbor's first steam-operated grain elevator in 1846. By establishing a hyper-efficient hub for international trade, shipbuilding, and manufacturing, the Atlantic Basin jumpstarted the development of Red Hook and laid the economic foundation for modern Brooklyn.

Buttermilk Channel

Separating Governor's Island from Brooklyn, the Buttermilk Channel is approximately a mile-long tidal strait in the upper New York Bay in New York City. There are many accounts of how the channel got its name. The channel, which now flows deep, was once shallow and choppy and its waters would foam like buttermilk. Some suggest that dairy farmers delivering milk to Manhattan by boat found their milk churned into butter by the time they got across the turbulent waters. Others believe that before cargo ships, cows were driven across the channel at low tide to graze on Governors Island. Walt Whitman, in his newspaper article about Brooklyn history writes, 'as late as the Revolutionary War (when) cattle were driven across from Brooklyn, over what is now Buttermilk Channel, to Governors Island.'

Publication History and Census

This chart was published by the U.S. Coast Survey in 1849, based on surveys overseen by David Dixon Porter, then a lieutenant, who in time would become one of the most celebrated U.S. naval officers of the 19th century. This is a separate issue example of the chart, which means it was published on thicker paper than charts appearing in the Coast Survey Superintendent's Annual Report, and engraved rather than lithographed. These examples were printed in much smaller numbers and are therefore much rarer. Indeed, we find no cataloged examples of this separate-issue of the map in institutional collections.

Cartographers

David Dixon Porter (June 8, 1813 - February 13, 1891) was a celebrated American naval officer, the second ever to achieve the rank of admiral, and a superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy. He began naval service at the age of 10, serving under his father Commodore David Porter. When his father was offered the position of General of Marine in Mexico in 1824, the younger Porter went with him and was later almost killed in a battle with Spanish brigs. David Dixon Porter then returned to the U.S. Navy in 1829 to serve as a midshipman, an entry-level rank despite his already considerable experience. From 1836 - 1842, and again from 1848 - 1849, Porter conducted hydrological surveys for the U.S. Coast Survey. He later served in the Mexican-American War and, most notably, the U.S. Civil War, serving under his adoptive brother David G. Farragut (1801 - 1870), including in the daring running of Forts Jackson and St. Philip outside New Orleans and the capture of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River. Following the war, he served as a transformative Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, modernizing its curriculum and infrastructure.   Further Details...

The Office of the Coast Survey (1807 - present) 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 spirit of the Coast Survey was defined by its first two superintendents. 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. These included using the most advanced techniques and most sophisticated equipment as well as an unstinting attention to detail. Hassler devised a labor intensive triangulation system whereby the entire coast was divided into a series of enormous triangles. These were in turn subdivided into smaller triangulation units that were then individually surveyed. Employing this exacting technique on such a massive scale had never before been attempted. Consequently, Hassler and the Coast Survey under him developed a reputation for uncompromising dedication to the principles of accuracy and excellence. Unfortunately, despite being a masterful surveyor, Hassler was abrasive and politically unpopular, twice losing congressional funding for the Coast Survey. Nonetheless, Hassler led the Coast Survey until his death in 1843, at which time Alexander Dallas Bache, a great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, took the helm. Bache was fully dedicated to the principles established by Hassler, but proved more politically astute and successfully lobbied Congress to liberally fund the endeavor. Under the leadership of A. D. Bache, the Coast Survey completed its most important work. Moreover, during his long tenure with the Coast Survey, from 1843 to 1865, Bache was a 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) to accommodate topographic as well as nautical surveys. Today the Coast Survey is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA as the National Geodetic Survey.   Further Details...

Alexander Dallas Bache (July 19, 1806 - February 17, 1867) was an American physicist, scientist and surveyor. Bache is best known in cartographic circles as the Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey from 1843 to 1865. Born in Philadelphia, Bache, a great grandson of the statesman and inventor Benjamin Franklin, had a varied career primarily focused on education. He toured Europe on behalf of Girard College and composed an important treatise on European Education. Later he served as president of Philadelphia's Central High School and was a professor of natural history and chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. On the death of Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, Bache was appointed Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey. Picking up where Hassler left off Bache presided over the Survey during its most prolific period and oversaw the mapping of most of the United States coastline. To this day his name appears on countless marine pilot books and U.S. Coast Survey nautical charts. For his work he was elected Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society. Following the Civil War, Bache was elected a 3rd Class Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He died at Newport, Rhode Island and was buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC, where he is commemorated with a monument built by American architect Henry Hobson Richardson.   Further Details...

Condition

Very good. Light toning.