1900 U.S.C.G.S. Nautical Map of Southern Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas

Transiting the Florida Straits.

This is a 1900 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey nautical map of the Southern Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas. Focusing on the Straits of Florida, channels, banks, and other features are labeled. A dotted line highlights the Gulf Stream. Countless depth soundings appear throughout. Yellow dots mark lights in the Florida Keys, Cuba, and the Bahamas. Information concerning lights and Gulf Stream currents is included in the lower left corner.

Publication History and Census

This map was created and published by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1900 while Henry S. Pritchett was superintendent. We note eleven examples of the 1900 edition of this chart cataloged in OCLC, although it is likely that some of these do not represent the 1900 edition.

Cartographers

The Office of the Coast Survey (1807 - present), founded in 1807 by President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of the Treasury 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, to produce accurate navigational charts of the new nation's coasts and harbors. The first two superintendents defined the spirit of the Coast Survey. The Coast Survey's first superintendent was Swiss immigrant and West Point mathematics professor Ferdinand Hassler. Under Hassler's direction, from 1816 to 1843, the Coast Survey established its ideological and scientific foundations. These included the use of the most advanced techniques and most sophisticated equipment, along with unstinting attention to detail. Hassler devised a labor-intensive triangulation system that divided the entire coast into a series of enormous triangles. These were then subdivided into smaller triangulation units, which were individually surveyed. No one had ever attempted this exacting technique on such a massive scale. As a result, Hassler and the Coast Survey under his leadership earned a reputation for uncompromising dedication to accuracy and excellence. Unfortunately, despite being a masterful surveyor, Hassler was abrasive and politically unpopular, and Congress cut funding for the Coast Survey twice. Nonetheless, Hassler led the Coast Survey until his death in 1843, when Alexander Dallas Bache, Benjamin Franklin's great-grandson, took the helm. Bache was fully dedicated to the principles established by Hassler, but proved more politically astute and successfully lobbied Congress to fund the endeavor generously. Under A. D. Bache's leadership, the Coast Survey completed its most important work. During his long tenure with the Coast Survey, from 1843 to 1865, Bache steadfastly advocated American science and navigation and, in fact, founded the American Academy of Sciences. Benjamin Pierce succeeded Bache and ran the Survey from 1867 to 1874. Pierce was succeeded by Carlile Pollock Patterson, 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 (USCGS) to accommodate both topographic and nautical surveys. Today, the Coast Survey is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as the National Geodetic Survey.   Further Details...

Henry Smith Pritchett (April 16, 1857 - August 28, 1939) was an American astronomer and educator. Born in Fayette, Missouri, Pritchett attended Pritchett College in Glasgow, Missouri and graduated with a B.A. in 1875. He then spent two years at the U.S. Naval Observatory under the tutelage of Asaph Hall, after which he became an assistant astronomer. He returned to Glasgow in 1880 for a job at the Morrison Observatory, where his father was the director. In 1882, Pritchett served as an astronomer on the Transit of Venus Expedition to New Zealand, and was appointed as a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Washington University in St. Louis upon his return in 1883. While at Washington University, Pritchett also served as the director of the observatory. Pritchett studied in Germany in the early 1890s and earned a PhD from the University of Munich in 1894. From December 1, 1897 until November 30, 1900, Pritchett was the Superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and then was president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1900 until 1906. After leaving MIT, Pritchett served as the president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching from 1906 until he retired in 1930.   Further Details...

Condition

Average. Residue from old tape repairs on verso along both left and right sides. Closed tears extending two-and-one-half (2.5) inches and one (1) in respectively from right margin professionally repaired on verso. Closed tear extending three-and-one-half (3.5) inches from left margin professionally repaired on verso. Closed margin tears professionally repaired on verso. Areas of reinforcement on verso. Edge wear.

References

OCLC 556347714.