1851 U.S. Coast Survey Chart of Key West and Vicinity, Florida (Separate Issue)

Earliest Coast Survey Chart of Key West.

This is a rare separately issued example of the U.S. Coast Survey's 1851 nautical chart or map of Key West and environs. The chart was the result of a months-long effort to chart the Florida coast led by naval officer John R. Rodgers, who is credited here.

A Closer Look

Centered on Key West, the chart covers from Boca Grande Key eastward to Raccoon Key, north as far as the N.W. Boca Chica Keys and south to W. Dray Rock and Sand Key. It records channels, depth soundings, shoals, hazards, lights, buoys, islets (keys), and other navigational information. Around the main map are extensive sailing instructions as well as notes and charts on tides, undersea elevations, and beacons.

The lighthouse on Key West seen here was a recent construction; the original structure, completed in 1825, had been destroyed in the deadly 1846 Havana Hurricane and a new structure was completed in 1849. For more than 30 years, the Key West Lighthouse was overseen by Barbara (Estacholy) Mabrity (1782 - 1867) after her husband Michael, the original lighthouse keeper, died from yellow fever in 1832. She survived the 1846 storm but five of her children died when the lighthouse, where they had sought shelter, crumbled.

Surveying the Florida Coast

In April 1849, then-Lieutenant John R. Rodgers was handed a daunting assignment by the U.S. Coast Survey: take command of a specialized hydrographic party and map the treacherous, largely uncharted waters surrounding the Florida peninsula. Operating primarily aboard the schooner Petrel and the paddle-wheel steamer Hetzel, Rodgers and his crew were tasked with taming a maritime graveyard. The Florida coast, particularly around Cape Canaveral and the Florida Keys, was a chaotic network of shifting sandbars, hidden coral reefs, and unpredictable tropical weather that routinely claimed merchant ships. For three years, Rodgers led meticulous triangulation and depth-sounding operations, braving intense heat, disease, and isolation to lay down the first highly accurate scientific baselines for the region's vital maritime trade routes.

The defining test of this expedition came on the night of February 9, 1850, during a violent gale off Cape Canaveral. The Hetzel's anchor cable snapped, violently grounding the steamer on the jagged shoals and fracturing her hull. Displaying the resourcefulness that would later define his Civil War career, Rodgers refused to abandon the vessel. He stabilized the ship, deliberately beached her on nearby shores to patch the leaks using makeshift materials like canvas and mud, and successfully navigated the crippled, waterlogged craft 300 miles back to Key West without losing a single crew member. Despite this near-disaster, the survey was a triumph; Rodgers' team successfully published the landmark 1850 chart, 'Reconnaissance of Cape Canaveral Shoals,' providing the definitive sailing directions and hazard warnings that dramatically increased coastal safety for decades to come.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by the U.S. Coast Survey team led by John R. Rodgers. Among the assistants involved was Julius E. Hilgard, who would later lead the Coast Survey. This is a separate issue example of the chart, which means it was published on thicker paper than charts appearing in the Coast Survey's Annual Report (for comparison, see Rumsey 2470.037, a second edition from 1852). We only note one example of this chart in institutional collections, in the Helen Muir Florida Collection of the Special Collections and Archives of the Miami-Dade Public Library.

Cartographers

John R. Rodgers (August 8, 1812 - May 5, 1882) was a major figure in the naval history of the United States in the 19th century, known for his contributions to the U.S. Coast Survey among other accomplishments. His father was War of 1812 hero Commodore John Rodgers (1773 - 1838), making the younger Rodgers destined for a naval career. He entered the Navy as a midshipman in 1828 and spent over five decades in uniform. He was among an early batch of naval officers assigned to the Coast Survey as it tried to deliver on its aspirations to provide usable information to navigators. Beginning in 1836, Rodgers helped to chart New York Harbor. He was later assigned leadership roles in important surveys, including the hydrographic party tasked with mapping the notoriously hazardous, uncharted waters of the Florida peninsula. He was then appointed second-in-command of the North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition (1853 - 1856). When the expedition's commander, Cadwalader Ringgold (1802 - 1867), fell ill, Rodgers was promoted to lead the fleet, overseeing the charting of vast, dangerous stretches of the China Sea, the Japanese archipelago, and the North Pacific, including the Bering Strait. Rodgers is widely celebrated for his efforts during the U.S. Civil War, where he oversaw the construction of ironclads and saw combat on the East Coast of the U.S., including near Richmond and in the Union siege and eventual recapture of Fort Sumter. After the war, he was promoted to Read Admiral and put in command of the Asiatic Squadron, commanding it during the 1871 punitive expedition against Korea. He later commanded the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California and was appointed Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. Rodgers's family is one of the most esteemed in U.S. naval history; one of his sons became a Vice Admiral and another (also named John) was made a Commander and was a pioneer in naval aviation. Rodgers' brother married the daughter of Commodore Matthew Perry, while two of his nephews also became rear admirals.   Further Details...

Julius Erasmus Hilgard (January 7, 1825 - May 9, 1890) was a German-American engineer and Director of the United States Coast Survey. Born in Zweibrüken, Rhenish Bavaria, he and his family emigrated to the United States in 1835. They arrived in New Orleans on Christmas Day and traveled from there to a farm in Belleville, Illinois. Hilgard went to Philadelphia in 1843 to study engineering. It was in Philadelphia that Hilgard met Professor Alexander Bache, the recently appointed Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey. In 1845, Bache gave Hilgard a position with the Coast Survey, although his official appointment was delayed for some reason until December 28, 1846. Hilgard worked with the Coast Survey off and on for the rest of his life. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Hilgard was engaged in a prominent business enterprise in Paterson, New Jersey, but Bache convinced him to return to the Coast Survey to supplement in the war effort. In 1862, Hilgard 'assumed charge of the Coast Survey office', taking on the duties of Superintendent in lieu of Bache, who had, by this time, become extremely ill. Upon Bache's death in 1867, Hilgard became the de-facto Superintendent as well as the assistant in charge of the office. He served as such until February 1867 when Benjamin Pierce was appointed Superintendent. Hilgard continued to work for the Coast Survey under Pierce as 'assistant in charge of office' until he was formally appointed Superintendent in 1881, a position he held until 1885 when he was forced to resign due to illness. He died 5 years later.   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. Closed edge tears professionally repaired on verso. Light soiling.

References

OCLC 1225144037.