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1866 U.S. Coast Survey Nautical Chart of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina

Charleston-uscs-1866
$250.00
Charleston Harbor and its Approaches. - Main View
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1866 U.S. Coast Survey Nautical Chart of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina

Charleston-uscs-1866

A particularly beautiful example of this important nautical chart.

Title


Charleston Harbor and its Approaches.
  1866 (dated)     32 x 32 in (81.28 x 81.28 cm)

Description


This is a highly desirable and uncommon 1866 U.S. Coast Survey chart or map of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Covers from Chareston south to Folly Island and east as far as Long island. Offers stunning inland detail identifying roads, farms, landings, and many individual buildings. Shows a detailed street grid for Charleston city noting docks and some commercial buildings. Places Hog Island, Drum Island, Shutes Folly Island, Morris Island, Sullivan's Island, Long Island and James Island. Nautically this map offers a wealth of practical information for the Mariner, including countless depth soundings and notes on light hoses, tides, shoals, and other undersea dangers. In the lower right quadrant there is a coastal view of North Channel with Fort Sumter.

The Triangulation for this chart was completed by C. O. Boutelle. The topography is the work of S. A. Gilbert, J. Seib, and W. S. Edwards. The hydrography was completed by a party under the command of C. O. Boutelle. This chart was compiled under the supervision of A. D. Bache, one of the most influential Superintendents in the history of the Coast Survey. Published in the 1867 supplement to the 1866 edition of the Superintendent's Report.

Cartographer


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. More by this mapmaker...

Source


Report of the Superintendant of the United States Coast Survey, Washington, (1867 Supplement to the 1865 edition).    

Condition


Very good condition. Some wear, toning, and verso reparis along original fold lines. Overall, a remarkably clean and attractive example of this map.