Although the U. S. Naval Hydrographic Office has been in existence for over a century, and throughout that time has been universally acclaimed by the Maritime World for its useful and efficient work, it has received little publicity in recent years and the average naval officer knows very little about it. The story of the development of this office and of its contributions to the seafaring world should be better known to the naval service, and it is hoped that this short account may revive interest in this subject.
Navigating the Seven Seas as practiced in the early part of the nineteenth century was by and large a matter of “By guess and by God.” Although steam driven vessels were just beginning to appear, it was still the era of the sailing ship, and knowledge regarding the winds, weather, ocean currents, etc., was of extreme importance to maritime commerce. Such charts and sailing directions as then existed were notable for their deficiencies. Mariners were compelled to rely primarily on such first hand accounts as could be obtained from other sailing masters who had previously made similar voyages.
As a matter of convenience for outfitting ships of the Navy and Merchant Marine, the principal maritime nations of that time usually maintained storehouses where such charts and sailing directions as were available, together with such instruments as were required for navigational purposes, were gathered for issue to ships requiring them. Such a one was the “Depot of Charts and Instruments” which was established by the U. S. Navy in 1830 in a rented house on G street between 17th and 18th Streets in Washington.
At that time, practically all charts were purchased from commercial publishers, and the supply was rather inadequate. A lithographic press was accordingly obtained for the Depot, and in 1837 the first nautical chart published by the Navy was printed on this press, although the engraving was done under contract by a commercial firm. This chart was one of a series covering “Georges Shoal and Bank” and was prepared from a survey by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, U. S. Navy, who was later to earn fame as the leader of the U. S. Exploring Expedition and still later as the officer responsible for the “Trent Affair.”
The history of the Depot was uneventful until the year 1842. At that time the Navy was reorganized and the Bureau System installed; Congress authorized the construction of a new building for the Depot, and Lieutenant Matthew Fontaine Maury reported as Officer in Charge.
The new building was placed on the site in Potomac Park which was until a few years ago occupied by the Naval Hospital. Although alterations have been made on it from time to time, the main part of this building, with its dome intact, is still in use. This building was first occupied in 1844 when the name of the Depot was changed to the “National Observatory.”
The assignment of Lieutenant Maury to the Depot was to mark a new era in deep water navigation. A man of his active mind could scarcely be expected to tolerate such a humdrum task as running a storehouse. From the time when he first went to sea, this genius had interested himself particularly in the problems of the mariner and the navigator. The paucity of knowledge regarding winds, weather, and currents along the ocean routes had made a deep impression on him, and even that early in his career he was pondering the practicability of laying down specific ocean routes which would represent the quickest and safest tracks for maritime commerce throughout the world. If shipmasters would submit data and reports of their experiences to some central agency, he reasoned, then that agency could publish all of this information for the benefit and use of the seafaring public, and standardized ship lanes would result.
In looking over the storehouse Maury discovered a number of old logs of naval ships which had been sent to the Navy Department as a matter of routine. These logs were already covered with dust and grime and were destined to remain in that condition until such time as some future official would consign them to be disposed of as rubbish. Maury quickly recognized the potential value of the data in these logs as a start in his scheme for the collection and dissemination of navigational information.
Here was an opportunity, and he quickly set to work on it. Going through these logs, he indexed the data both by geographical location and by dates, and then made a summary of the results. It was not very complete, but at least a start had been made. Spurred on by this progress, he appealed to shipmasters the world over to cooperate in his plan and to send in reports to him, promising in return that some day all of this material would be published and returned to them for their benefit.
This procedure was soon to be adopted as the basis on which all modem Hydrographic Offices are founded. From simple storehouses, Hydrographic Offices of all seafaring nations were now to develop into broad, worldwide Service Stations where all types of information of interest to mariners could be collected, digested, and reissued to them.
In 1853, at the instigation of this country, an international conference was called for the purpose of interesting other nations in such a system as described above for the exchange of nautical information. The work of Maury was given the highest praise at this Conference and his plan enthusiastically adopted by all of the maritime nations.
The response of shipmasters to Maury’s appeal for cooperation was also most gratifying. During the five year period 1842-1847, some 26,000,000 reports were forwarded to Washington. This amount of data was considered sufficient to enable the first “Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic” to be published in 1847. Today, these charts, or rather the successors to them, are called “Pilot Charts,” and each copy carries on its face a statement that it is based on the original researches of Maury.
Meanwhile the Depot, which had moved into its new quarters in 1844, was now being variously referred to as the National Observatory, the Naval Observatory, and the Hydrographical Office, until 1854, when it was officially designated as the “U. S. Naval Observatory and Hydrographical Office.”
Maury remained in charge until 1861, continuing his work of research and publication of material of every kind, of interest not only to the seaman but to the nautical scientist as well. In addition to his efforts to improve navigation, he laid the foundation for the modem science of Oceanography by his research in the natural phenomena of the Oceans, a field hitherto practically neglected by scientists. Eight volumes of Sailing Directions were compiled and published, these being hailed by one writer as “Guide Books to the Oceans.” Other types of charts were developed, deep sea soundings taken, and it was based on Maury’s research and recommendation that the first cable was laid between this country and England. It was Maury also who originally suggested that weather forecasts were possible, although he never succeeded in getting Congress to adopt the idea.
The work of this great genius during his tour of office forms a bright chapter in the history of the Navy. While at the zenith of his career, however, the Civil War broke out and Maury chose to cast his lot with the South. With the advent of peace Maury was left a refugee, and it was not until 1868 that he was granted amnesty and permitted to return to this country.
Meanwhile, the work which he had so brilliantly begun was not overlooked. As soon as the aftermath of the Civil War permitted, Congress passed a new Act setting up the Hydrographic Office along the lines proposed by Maury and based on his ideas “for the improvement of the means for navigating safely the vessels of the Navy and of the mercantile marine'’ and “for the benefit and use of navigators generally.”
The newly organized Hydrographic Office was marked by a good many changes. The observatory was now separated from it and established as a separate institution, and the Hydrographic Office itself was now moved to new quarters in the old “Octagon House” at 18th Street and New York Avenue.
The most important change, however, was a functional one. No longer was it to be just a storehouse; it was now to become a Bureau of service and information for mariners. Surveys were to be carried out, data collected, nautical charts and publications of every kind printed, and all these and other information of value were to be made available to the maritime world. The dream of Maury was now a reality, although he himself was still an outlaw.
Progress was not rapid but at least it was steady. Three years after the inception of the new Office, the first “Notice to Mariners” was published. In 1879 the Office was moved into the old State, War, and Navy building. In 1882 the transfer of photolithographic charts to copper plates was begun. The present type of Pilot Charts was first printed in 1883.
The first of the Branch Hydrographic Offices was established in 1884. From time to time since then, additional Branch Offices have been established and a total of twenty are now in existence. These Offices in all the principal ports of this country supply a valuable service to shipping. Charts and publications of the world are available there for consultation and examination by shipmasters who drop in just before sailing in order to obtain the latest hydrographic information. Daily Memoranda are issued at these offices giving a summary of all information not already published, and Notices to Mariners, Hydrographic Bulletins, Pilot Charts, etc., are available to those who need them.
When radio came into practical use early in this century, a new means was then made available for the dissemination of navigational information direct to ships at sea. This service was of particular benefit to ships approaching a coast where they had had no opportunity of obtaining knowledge of any new dangers or changes in navigational aids that had occurred since their departure. Now, all such information is promptly broadcast by radio in both the Atlantic and Pacific.
In 1889 a letter from the Hydrographer, calling attention to the confusion existing with regard to geographic names throughout the world, resulted in the formation of the United States Board on Geographic Names. In 1912, following the Titanic disaster, a letter from the office with reference to the dangers from icebergs along the North Atlantic Route resulted in the establishment of the International Ice Patrol. The present “Lane routes” used in connection with the Ice Patrol were actually proposed by Maury over fifty years before.
In 1912 the Hydrographic Office purchased and installed a lithographic offset printing press using zinc plates. This represented the first use made of this type of press for printing nautical charts. With this press the use of various colors was made possible, and the Hydrographic Office now began to turn out charts containing various tints where formerly only black and white had been used.
In 1922 the Navy developed the first practical sonic sounding machine. In that year two destroyers transited the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, taking continuous soundings with this gear and giving a complete profile of the ocean’s bottom along their track. This event ushered in the era where scientists could be able to learn something of the underwater form of the bottom of the ocean. From that time the Hydro- graphic Office has led the world in its contributions of deep sea soundings and the number of published bathymetric charts based on this data.
In that same year the Hydrographic Office for the first time made use of air photography in conducting hydrographic surveys off the coast of Cuba. Both sonic sounding and air photography have since been universally adopted as standard techniques in hydrographic surveying, but it is to the credit of “Hydro” that it led the way.
With the advent of long range aviation, another field was opened up. Prior to this time navigational charts only covered the water areas. It now became necessary not only to construct navigational charts over land areas, but also to adapt them to the particular needs of aviation. The total number of aviation charts published by the Hydrographic Office now runs into the hundreds, covering mostly the oversea and coastal areas. The series of Pilot Charts for surface navigation has also been paralleled by the publication of a series of Pilot Charts of the Upper Air for the benefit of aviators. Air Pilots covering areas of particular value to Naval Aviation are also issued by the Hydrographic Office in order to provide the aviator with information similar to that given the mariner in the Sailing Directions.
During World War I the Office was moved from the old State, War, and Navy building to the then new temporary Navy building on Constitution Avenue. Pearl Harbor found it still there and in rather cramped quarters with a very inadequate personnel of about two hundred. The demand for charts increased enormously at this time, eventually becoming about forty times that of the normal prewar rate. A tremendous expansion in space, equipment, and personnel was now urgently required.
A new building was promptly begun, this being located in Suitland, Maryland, about five miles south of the Capitol. Additional equipment of the latest type, including several lithographic presses, was immediately obtained and the personnel built up as rapidly as possible.
The new quarters were occupied in November, 1942. Some changes in the organization were necessary in order to enable the office to handle the increased output with the required promptness. Trained civilian personnel were not obtainable in the quantity required, and it became necessary to take on unskilled employees and then train them. Even this failed to provide enough personnel to take care of the work, and recourse was had to using both enlisted men and Waves, first giving them such preliminary training as was necessary. This experiment worked so well that many more of these were assigned to the Office, and at the peak more than half of the personnel were naval. At the end of the war the total personnel amounted to about 1,800.
Even before he had been ordered to the old Depot, Maury had written and published a textbook on Navigation which ultimately was adopted for use by the Naval Academy and which was used along with Bowditch by the Navy. During his tenure of office, this book was revised by Maury. When the new Hydrographic Office was established in 1866 all rights to Bowditch’s Practical Navigator were purchased, and since that time the “Sailor’s Bible” has been issued by the Office as the standard Navy publication on Navigation.
From its first inception the Hydrographic Office has been generally accepted in this country as the standard authority on navigational matters, and many naval officers have contributed greatly to that science. The work of Pilsbury, Rust, and Littlehales of the old timers, and of Dreisonstock, Ageton, Weems, Gingrich, Pierce, and others in recent years has been particularly noteworthy. The production of tables for use in Navigation has almost been a monopoly of the Hydrographic Office in this country.
The development of radar and other electronic devices provided the Navy with a new type of equipment which was immediately put to practical use for navigational purposes. When Loran was devised the Hydrographic Office was assigned the task of determining how best to make proper use of it. Under this directive special tables have been computed and published and a special type of chart has been worked out for use with the Loran technique.
For over a century U. S. Navy survey vessels have been carrying out hydrographic surveys throughout the world, although this work has been concentrated primarily in Pan-American areas and in the Pacific. Some of the most completely equipped survey vessels in the world have devoted their entire time to this work, while other naval ships have contributed greatly to the program. Even before this country entered the war one of these survey ships had been equipped with an offset lithographic press and the equipment necessary for producing charts aboard the ship. This was the first ship to be so equipped, and the wisdom of this move was amply demonstrated during the war.
Following Pearl Harbor, the need for quick surveys, and the rapid production of charts for use in amphibious operations, was foreseen and plans made to prepare for it. Additional survey vessels were obtained and additional surveying engineers procured both from civil sources and from other Government departments. The necessary equipment was installed in the ships, including lithographic printing presses on two other survey ships, making a total of three ships which could conduct a survey and turn out a complete chart on the ship in a minimum of time.
The work of the survey ships in the war is well known to the Navy and forms a story in itself. The first wave of troops was hardly ashore before these vessels would move in and begin their sweeping and surveying operations. Three days after the colors were first planted on Mt. Suribachi, personnel from the U. S. S. Sumner, one of the Hydrographic Office’s survey ships, had constructed a beacon alongside it for use in triangulation.
All of the survey ships were under fire at one time or another. The Sumner shot down a Jap plane at Pearl Harbor. Another survey ship, the U.S.S. Bowditch, is officially credited with shooting down four Kamikaze planes at Okinawa. It was the rapidity with which surveys were made and charts turned out, however, and not their combat work that was of the most importance to the Navy. Many operations could not well be carried out until the required charts had been made.
The waters In which our vessels operated were among the most poorly surveyed areas in the world. The lack of a good chart of Milne Bay by the Japanese contributed largely to their defeat there. The best chart of Tarawa available to our forces at the time of the landing there was based on a century old survey made by Wilkes.*
The scientific work begun by Maury has been continued by the Hydrographic Office throughout its existence, and close cooperation has been constantly maintained with scientific societies. Oceanographic studies have been carried out, gravity determinations made, and considerable data on deep sea soundings supplied to scientific societies. On many occasions scientists have accompanied Hydrographic Office parties surveying little known islands and coasts and have collected data of various kinds.
During the war it was decided to set up a permanent division in the Hydrographic Office organization for the particular purpose of furthering research in Oceanography, including Tides and Currents. Amphibious operations during the war fully demonstrated the necessity for this work. Considerable progress has been made both during the war and since, and the Division of Oceanography is now being developed, with the cooperation of other governmental agencies and scientific societies, as a central clearing house for the oceanographic research work of this country'.
The determination of geographical positions is a natural corollary' of surveying. The determination of a number of longitudes by telegraph was carried out by the Hydro- graphic Office years ago and many positions throughout the world have also been computed from astronomical observations. In the last few years, new methods such as the “Flare Method” and Shoran (a variation of the principle of radar) have been developed for use in making accurate measurements of distances beyond the limits of visibility. The Hydrographic Office is now engaged in connecting up the triangulation of the mainland with that of the Bahamas and Cuba by bridging the gap between them by the use of these methods. As a long range problem, it is planned to extend this triangulation between other disconnected areas in this same manner, and eventually it is expected that the triangulation of the whole world will be based on the same datum.
The Hydrographic Office has long been a leader in the adoption of new technical improvements, and its own personnel have developed a number of new methods and equipment. The Ourdan letter engraving machine and the Pantograver are examples of machines developed in the Office. During the war every effort was made to speed production in the plant and this resulted in the development of a number of new technical methods for accomplishing the work. The use of a zinc plate sprayed with Duco for drafting purposes was developed in the Office before the war; and later, as new types of plastic became available, these were quickly adapted for cartographic and photographic use. The Medina-Looney process for speeding up the task of making alterations on maps and charts was one developed by personnel of the Hydrographic Office within the past year. This process results in considerable economy both in time and cost.
The war-time record of the Hydrographic Office would not be complete without mention of the task of distributing the immense number of charts and publications to the Navy and Merchant Marine. In 1944, over 43,000,000 charts alone were printed and issued by the Hydrographic Office. For security purposes, the Hydrographic Office took over the entire task of supplying our naval and merchant ships. To facilitate this distribution, branch Distributing Offices were established not only in the principal ports of this country but in foreign ports as well. Several advanced bases also set up special Chart Depots where emergency requests for charts and publications could be expedited. Many tons of combat charts and nautical charts in bulk were flown to operating areas by plane. Branch Offices were also established at a number of bases for the dissemination of navigational information.
With the close of hostilities, the Hydro- graphic Office, like all other naval activities, is now engaged in getting back to a peacetime basis. The work of the Office, however, will be considerably greater than what it was prior to the war. The number of charts has been greatly increased and the demand for them will entail the production of a much greater number of copies. The large increase in Naval Aviation and the increasing development of long distance flights have greatly expanded the number of aviation charts and publications required. The development of Photogrammetry (first used by the Hydrographic Office in hydrographic surveys) will increase the accuracy of charts and the speed with which they are turned out.
New electronic methods of navigation devised during the war will require a large number of special charts and tables which the Office is now turning out. The newly established Division of Oceanography will continue its research in the subjects of Oceanography Tides and Currents—subjects of so much importance in amphibious warfare.
The increase will necessitate a personnel much larger than that in effect prior to the war. The new Hydrographic Office building will house the greater part of the activities of the Office, but additional space will be provided in the adjacent building now occupied by the Bureau of the Census. The Office is now furnished with the most modem types of equipment, including fifteen offset lithographic printing presses, most of which were obtained during the war. Some of the special types of machines were designed particularly for the use of the Hydrographic Office and represent the most modem and improved types of their kind in existence.
There appears to be a great deal of misunderstanding and confusion both in and out of the Navy as to the responsibilities of the various government agencies with regard to the general subjects of safe navigation and the supply and maintenance of charts and related publications. With a view to clearing some of this misunderstanding, a brief summary will be given here covering their duties and responsibilities.
The Hydrographic Office was set up by law as the agency responsible for “the improvement of the means of navigating safely of the Navy and the Mercantile Marine.” It is also specifically responsible for the supply to mariners of all charts and publications required by them for that purpose. This responsibility is worldwide in its scope, and no geographical limitations are mentioned in the law.
Under the directive embodied in this law, the Hydrographic Office publishes charts, sailing directions, light lists, pilot charts, navigational tables, manuals on navigation, and various other miscellaneous publications covering related subjects such as tides, currents, oceanography, special methods of navigation, etc. It maintains and corrects all these charts and publications covering the world by means of weekly Notices to Mariners, the Hydrographic Bulletin, daily Memoranda, and daily “Hydro” broadcasts over the radio.
As an Office of the Navy Department, it is also charged with such other charting, navigational, tidal, and oceanographic work as may be needed by the Navy Department. The Naval Observatory, however, publishes and distributes the Nautical Almanac.
The Coast and Geodetic Survey of the Department of Commerce is charged with the surveying and charting of the coasts of the United States and its possessions. Under this directive it publishes charts, sailing directions, and tide and current tables which are limited, as mentioned above, to the United States and possessions. The Coast Survey has no other responsibility as regards the subject of safe navigation. Their charts and publications are kept corrected by the Hydrographic Office’s Notice to Mariners and by “Hydro” broadcasts.
The Coast Guard in ordinary times is under the Treasury Department and is charged with the operation and maintenance of Aids to Navigation in the United States and its possessions. The Coast Guard publishes the Light Lists covering the United States and its possessions, and cooperates with the Hydrographic Office in the preparation of such parts of the Notice to Mariners published by the latter as cover Aids to Navigation of this country. It publishes and issues on request, in a number of ports, a daily memorandum covering changes in local aids, and also broadcasts local hydrographic information by radio from a number of its stations.
From the above we see that while other government organizations cooperate and make important contributions, the Hydro- graphic Office is the agency which has the actual responsibility for safe navigation, and the Navy and Merchant Marine look to that Office to fill their needs. Its success has been primarily due to the fact that throughout its existence it has been under the direction and control of naval officers who were both seamen and navigators, who have known what seafaring people want, and who have tried to give it to them.
*See Charting a War in May, 1946, Naval Institute Proceeding.