On December 6, 1955, the United States Navy Hydrographic Office, known to mariners simply as Hydro, celebrates one hundred and twenty-five years of continuous service to the United States Navy and Merchant Marine. The history of the Hydrographic Office has paralleled the development of the science of modern navigation. From its rude beginnings in 1830 as the Depot of Charts and Instruments to its modern plant of today, the Hydrographic Office has kept abreast of constantly increasing demands made upon it by the Operating Forces and the Merchant Marine.
The roster of the names of those who have contributed to this development is long and distinguished. Since there is not space here to even mention all of these men, it seems a more fitting tribute to emphasize some of the present functions of the Hydrographic Office and to trace their relationship to the goals set by a few of the naval officers who shaped the course of Hydro’s development.
Prior to 1830 there had been no real attempt to systematize the procurement and furnishing of charts, instruments, and related publications to our ships. Naval vessels were forced to rely on foreign charts and those obtained from commercial sources. The former were unsatisfactory from the standpoint of language and uniformity, whereas the flow of the latter was as unreliable as the information that they contained. Seven years after the establishment of the Depot of Charts and Instruments it was reported that the United States was still heavily indebted to foreign powers for navigational data. Even forty years after its inception, the Depot’s successor had on issue only 28 publications and 388 charts.
Today, however, the Hydrographic Office is the largest repository and distributor of navigational information in the world. Its staff members serve in an advisory capacity to the United Nations, NATO, and the Inter-American Defense Board. Nearly 6,000 charts are serviced annually, and their number is constantly being increased. As of 1 July 1955, there were 289 different publications on issue. More than sixteen million copies of charts and publications are in the distribution system for the Navy, Merchant Marine, and other official and unofficial users. It is significant that numerous similar installations abroad have been modeled after the U. S. Navy Hydrographic Office and that each year a growing number of naval officers from other lands visit and train at Hydro. Although it is one of the youngest of the maritime nations, our country has become the foremost one in hydrographic work.
The initial development of the Depot’s activities was slow. Among the more notable events that occurred in the early days was the installation of a lithographic press in 1835. Lt. Louis M. Goldsborough, who suggested establishment of the Depot and served as its first Officer in Charge, initiated the collection and centralization of instruments, books, and charts that were scattered among several navy yards. His successor, Lt. Charles Wilkes, procured from Europe new and advanced instruments for navigation which had previously been unknown to these shores.
In 1838 the first major overseas scientific expedition ever authorized by Congress was placed under Wilkes’ command. From this expedition, which lasted four years, came 87 engravings which have served as the basis of charts issued by all maritime nations. A smaller survey, conducted by this same officer in 1837, covered the fishing grounds east of Cape Cod and resulted in the first four engraved charts issued by our Navy. Numerous publications and atlases were also prepared by Wilkes concerning hydrography, botany, and kindred subjects in the areas covered by survey operations under his direction. At this writing, when the Hydrographic Office is busily preparing its contributions to the 1955 Antarctica Expedition and using the latest techniques of compiling, evaluating and constructing navigational aids, it is interesting to recall that Wilkes with the men-of-war Vincennes and Peacock and the brig Porpoise, was actively engaged in the same area in 1840.
The work of Wilkes and the 1838 expedition ranged from the eastern Atlantic to the coasts of both the Americas and thence deep into the western and southwestern reaches of the Pacific. The magnitude of Wilkes’ contribution must be measured against the fact that even with the speed and equipment of modern hydrographic vessels the expedition would constitute a tremendous undertaking. Extensive supplementary surveys were also conducted in 1848, 1850, and 1853. Perry’s expedition to Japan in 1852, in addition to its commercial and diplomatic achievements, provided a wealth of data supplementing the earlier work of Wilkes.
Lt. Wilkes, and later Lt. James M. Gilliss, gave great impetus to the astronomical aspects of the Hydrographic Office’s mission. It was primarily due to Gilliss’ efforts that a permanent observatory was added to the Depot’s facilities in 1844. Gilliss declared in 1845 that his aim “was to place an [astronomical] institution under the management of naval officers, where, in the practical pursuit of the highest known branch of science, they would compel an acknowledgement of abilities hitherto withheld from the service.” In this project he succeeded, and from it has developed the present Naval Observatory.
Perhaps the greatest single influence that molded the Hydrographic Office during this early period and firmly established its character was the work of Matthew Fontaine Maury, who assumed charge of the Depot in 1842. Maury immediately set out to organize an extensive system of collecting information from the logs of men-of-war and merchant vessels. His objective is best summarized in his own words: “By putting down on a chart the tracks of many vessels on the same voyage, but at different times, in different years, and during all seasons, and by projecting along each track the winds and currents daily encountered, it was plain that navigators hereafter, by consulting this chart, would have for their guide the results of the combined experience of all whose tracks were thus pointed out.”
These new charts, known as “Pilot Charts,” were received enthusiastically by the masters of the clipper ships of that era who found their voyages shortened and their profits increased by following the tracks prescribed by Maury. The average passage from New York to California was reduced from 180 days to 133 days. The route from England to Australia and return was cut by about 48 days. Estimated savings to American shipowners were $2,000,000 a year.
Under Maury, the Depot also initiated the production of Trade Wind Charts, Thermal Charts, and Storm and Rain Charts. The meteorological information that they provided had great value for our Navy and shipping interests at that time.
Maury’s fame spread abroad, and, as a result of his efforts, an international marine conference was held at Brussels in 1853 for the purpose of securing a uniform system of observation at sea. This meeting can be considered as the forerunner of both the International Hydrographic Bureau and the International Marine Meteorological Organization.
In 1855 Maury published The Physical Geography of the Sea, which has become a classic and the foundation of the science of oceanography. In it may be found the most comprehensive of the earlier efforts to understand the economy of the sea and “its adaptations—its salts, its waters, its climate, and its inhabitants, and whatever there may be of general interest in its commercial uses or industrial pursuits.” Almost a century was permitted to elapse, however, before the full significance of this particular work by Maury was recognized. In the light of rapidly diminishing natural resources, men have turned with renewed interest to the mysterious wealth of the sea. The extraction of magnesium from salt water is probably one of the more outstanding developments in this area. More recently, the use of salinity tests and bottom samples—both of which the Hydrographic Office pioneered—have played an extremely important role in the off-shore drilling for petroleum.
Maury’s energy and ingenuity were boundless. He advocated the linking of the continents by telegraph cable and laid the path of the first Atlantic cable. In 1855 he proposed the first steamer lanes across the Western Ocean, which have their counterpart today in the North Atlantic Track Agreement. It was he who conceived the idea of systematic weather observations on land and sea and, by urging daily weather reports for the farmer, laid the cornerstone for the U. S. Weather Bureau. One of the more unfortunate aspects of the Civil War was that it ended Maury’s contributions to world navigation, for he cast his lot with his native Virginia.
During that war, as in subsequent ones, the flow of meteorological and hydrographic data from the world’s merchant fleets ceased. Throughout the conflict the activities of the Depot were largely confined to the purchase and care of charts, compasses, spy glasses, chronometers, and other navigational instruments and the distribution of this material to the nearly six hundred vessels under the Union flag.
At the conclusion of hostilities there was renewed interest in shipping due to the great industrial expansion of the North, and in 1866 Congress passed an act which defined the mission of the Depot. Henceforth this agency was to be known as the Hydrographic Office, and all its astronomical functions were eliminated. The Office was charged with the responsibility of providing “accurate and cheap nautical charts, sailing directions, navigators, and manuals of instructions for the use of all vessels of the United States, and for the benefit and use of navigators generally.”
At that time Hydro was moved to the Octagon House, which still stands and is best known as the home of President Madison following the burning of the White House. While the building may have been suitable for social functions, such as Dolly Madison’s famous receptions, it was far from ideal for working quarters. The Hydrographer’s report for 1872 states, “Now the printing of this office is carried on in cellar rooms, so damp and rotten that no private party would think of using them; and makeshift rooms have had to be fitted up in the loft of a stable, for draftsmen and stowage.” At the time of its transfer to the Octagon House the staff consisted of a commander, two lieutenant commanders, one lieutenant, two ensigns, a professor of mathematics, and seven civilians. This small group was relatively large compared to the initial staff of three persons who were assigned to the Depot in 1830. Still, it represented but a fraction of Hydro’s complement today, which numbers approximately twenty-five • naval officers and over fourteen hundred civilians with such scientific and technical skills as hydrographic engineering, cartography, navigational science, oceanography, statistics, and lithography.
Under the act of 1866, which also authorized the purchase of plates and copyrights of existing charts and publications, the Office acquired the copyright of the American Practical Navigator (Bowditch), a few volumes of coast pilots and sailing directions, and 24 copper plates of charts relating mainly to the American coast. This material, together with those charts resulting from earlier surveys, formed the nucleus of the varied publications of the present Hydro- graphic Office. The first weekly “Notice to Mariners” made its appearance in 1869, and at the same time the first authorized sales agents for the Office were established in several major ports. Two years later photolithography was introduced to the Office, and by 1882 the transfer of photolithographic charts to copper plates had begun. This process eliminated the enormous labor formerly required to keep charts corrected by hand. In 1883 the “North Atlantic Pilot Chart” appeared for the first time in its present monthly format. This chart was gradually followed by those of the other oceans until world coverage was achieved.
The Hydrographic Office’s publications reflect the progress of scientific navigation. It was just seven years after the establishment of the Hydrographic Office in 1830 that Captain Thomas H. Sumner made his historic discovery of the now universally accepted line of position or Sumner Line. While the employment of the position line extended the navigator’s horizon and increased the scope of his observations, a better method was still sought to establish this line. This goal was attained in 1875 when Marcq de St. Hilaire announced his special adaptation of the intercept method, which he called the “New Navigation.” Considered together with the Sumner Line, this was a happening second only in importance to the invention of the chronometer. The tables necessary to work the navigator’s sights by this new method* were included by Hydro in Bowditch.
The efforts of the Office since that time have been directed to providing the best tables for the quickest solution to the celestial observation and 7the most rapid means of drawing the related position line. During the first half of the twentieth century ten series of such tables were prepared, culminating in the nine volumes of Tables of Computed Altitude and Azimuth, familiarly known to the navigator as “H.O. 214.” These tables became so popular that several foreign maritime nations requested and received permission to reproduce them. Comparable tables for the aviator, taking into consideration the speed of the modern plane, recently appeared as Sight Reduction Tables for Air Navigation (H.O. 249).
Charts and publications have also been devised and modified by Hydro to meet the needs of LORAN, the new and revolutionary electronic aid to navigation. Among the many other publications developed and distributed by Hydro are Light Lists, Radio Navigational Aids, Radio Weather Aids, and Sailing Directions, all of which, incidentally, are now in loose-leaf format to permit easy correction.
As naval aviation began to assume greater and greater importance, the Hydrographic Office was assigned the responsibility of devising charts for air navigation. The first of these charts, called “Naval Operating Charts,” was produced in 1918 for patrol use. “Notice to Aviators,” the first publication of its kind, was introduced in 1920 and was followed in 1921 by an aerial radio warning system. Naval Air Pilots, a narrative to accompany aeronautical charts, was introduced in 1926, and gradually the Office embarked on a program of producing all necessary charts and publications required for the safe navigation of Naval Air. Today, this program covers the world and is supplemented by such publications as the Seaplane Route Manual, the Aircraft Facility Directory, Naval Airways Pilot, and other aids to the naval aviator.
When so many of us are inclined to think of the changeless sea, it may come somewhat as a surprise to learn that the acquisition and prompt dissemination of corrections to its publications and charts is one of the major problems of the Office. Shorelines change, deeps and shallow's appear and islands disappear only to reappear. Information concerning other changes of a temporary but critical nature, such as icebergs, wreckage, and mines, must be constantly relayed to shipping throughout the world. To meet this critical problem the Hydrographic Office has developed its warning and corrective services to the highest degree possible. Today, through the Hydro radio navigational warning systems in the Atlantic and the Pacific, mariners are apprised several times daily of all urgent information. The weekly “Notice to Mariners” furnishes all material correcting the charts and publications of the Office. Finally, through “change- pages” to its publications and through corrected reprints of its charts, the Hydro- graphic Office endeavors to provide the seafarer with the latest and most accurate information. Hydro’s cooperation with international organizations, national agencies, and professional scientific organizations, as well as the efforts of thousands of voluntary observers throughout the world, are the principal sources of this information, which runs as high as 20,000 items per year.
The collection and dissemination of information essential to safe navigation by the Hydrographic Office is further enhanced by the activities of thirteen Branch Offices located in our major seaports, nine similar facilities for air navigation, and two large distribution depots at Scotia, New York, and Clearfield, Utah.
The advances of scientific knowledge have greatly affected not only the information provided by the Hydrographic Office but also the manner in which it is obtained. This is especially true in the field of surveying. The early surveys of the Office appear primitive in the light of modern standards. They consisted principally of lines of soundings taken on courses steamed parallel to the coast, with positions and heights of shore objects checked from the ship’s deck. Actually they were nothing more than running surveys or extended reconnaissances. The paucity of data shown in these early charts made necessary, in many instances, cautionary notes warning the mariner not to place too much confidence in the charts.
The advent of the telegraph made it possible at long last to determine longitude accurately by communicating the exact time to surveying parties. In the ten year period 1874-1884, expeditions were undertaken which resulted in the determination of the longitude of thirty places forming a girdle around the entire globe. No more precise method of longitude measurement was possible until the development of the radio time signal in 1911. Since then steady progress toward greater accuracy has been made. Members of Hydro presently engaged in survey operations for the logistic support of joint American-Canadian top-of-the-world radar warning stations use the latest techniques and finest instruments ever conceived.
Probably the greatest advance in hydro- graphic surveying in modern times was the introduction by the United States Navy of the sonic sounding apparatus in 1922. This development marked the end of the days of the old hand lead and the wire sounding machine. With the echo sounding machine the depths of the ocean could be probed on a scale undreamed of in the days of Maury. Practically every unit of the Navy and all modern merchantmen were soon equipped with this device, and the Hydrographic Office began to receive a steady stream of soundings from all parts of the globe. One naval vessel alone in 50 passages across the Pacific turned in 37,976 soundings. The profusion of soundings thus obtained enabled the Office to begin the construction of bathymetric charts delineating the ocean bottom in a manner similar to contour maps on land. The full significance of the development of bottom contour charts is only appreciated when one considers the problems of underwater navigation for a true submersible like the USS Nautilus.
In 1922 the Hydrographic Office also employed aerial photography for the first time. That occasion was a survey of Cuba. Since that time, through the application of photo-grammetry, aerial surveying has become a standard Hydro practice.
Perhaps the recent progress of the Hydro- graphic Office in its survey work is best exemplified in its survey vessels of today as contrasted with those prior to World War II. In 1939 Hydro’s “fleet” consisted of the USS Hannibal, ah old British coal-burner acquired by Admiral Dewey at Manila during the Spanish-American War, and the USS Bushnell, a submarine repair ship. The present survey fleet consists of six ships converted from attack cargo and fleet mine sweeper types.
The USS Maury (AGS-16) and her sister ship, the USS Tanner (AGS-15), are the largest and best equipped survey ships in the world. Each is fitted with the latest type navigational and surveying instruments, including special electronic systems for precise positioning during sounding operations. Two helicopters are assigned to each vessel and are utilized for reconnaissance, aerial photography, and the transportation of personnel and equipment to the triangulation and electronic stations ashore. Each ship carries four large sounding boats, fitted with echo sounders and radio, six landing craft, and amphibious and regular trucks. These vessels are equipped so that they can compile and print charts immediately upon completion of survey operations, thus providing even closer support to the Operating Forces.
During World War II Hydro had many diverse requirements placed upon it. At numerous times throughout the early period of this war, small groups of civilians and naval officers assembled at conference tables in the Hydrographic Office or behind closely guarded doors in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Before them lay portions of a master plan reflecting the conclusions of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as to the conduct of the eastward progress of war in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and the westward progress in the Pacific. But these operations could not be satisfactorily carried out until charts were available.
Isolated and hitherto infrequently visited areas and atolls of the Pacific, such as the Gilberts, Marshalls, Solomons, Carolines and the Marianas, and enemy strongholds at such far western islands as Iwo Jima and Okinawa became vitally important to our strategic planners. With deficient and inaccurate information available on many remote areas, the problem of producing adequate bombardment charts for amphibious operations created a gigantic task for the Hydrographic Office.
From Hydro’s work force a select group of scientists and technicians was assigned to the development and distribution of 650 approach and bombardment charts for Pacific waters not previously charted or inadequately charted. Reproduction of these charts ranged from 6,000 to 18,000 copies each, depending on the sizes of the forces involved. Thousands of documents having navigational value, as well as aerial photographs, were utilized from sources in the United States and foreign countries, including captured Japanese material, in preparing the final products. Barely intelligible at first in the compilation and prototype stage, the charts began to take shape until finally guide posts for the trackless wastes of the Pacific stood ready for the Operating Forces. The need and its response were without precedent.
The vast reservoir of observations on current, sea and swell, and ocean temperatures that had accumulated since the turn of the century was processed after 1928 and compiled into atlases, which proved to be of enormous value during World War II. This work was one of the results of the recommendations of the Schofield Board. This board, headed by Rear Admiral Frank H. Schofield, urged a systematic approach to the securing of oceanographic data by United States naval vessels and the obtaining of suitably equipped vessels to make oceanographic surveys. To implement this program the Hydrographic Office began to purchase oceanographic equipment and to introduce programs of oceanographic observations in the Hydrographic Office survey vessels. The experience of World War II bore out the far-sightedness of the Schofield Board and demonstrated that a basic knowledge of marine environment in a specific area is indispensable to wartime operations there.
Following the war a Division of Oceanography was established in the Hydro- graphic Office, and in 19-18 the Office was assigned its first purely oceanographic ships, the USS San Pablo and the USS Rehoboth. Among the unique accomplishments of these vessels have been anchoring in 2,000 fathoms of water and the undertaking of successful underwater photography at 3,400 fathoms. Their cruises are slowly but surely unlocking the secrets of the vast unknown depths of the ocean. In recent years, extremely close collaboration has been attained between the Operating Forces and those responsible for oceanographic research and development. This has resulted in the translation and adaptation of oceanographic data into material more suitable for Fleet requirements.
In addition to its day-by-day services to the Fleet and the Merchant Service, Hydro is ready to assume its mobilization role. Today there are stockpiled and kept current, over ten million charts and one million publications for the immediate use of our Armed Forces and those of our Allies in the event of hostilities. Hydro’s activities in research, development, manufacturing, and distribution of navigational materials are truly representative of a publicly supported service that makes a full contribution to our Nation’s safety and prosperity.
The United States Navy Hydrographic Office celebrates its one hundred and twenty- fifth anniversary with the proud satisfaction of knowing that its charts and publications are the finest that the mind of man has yet conceived. It is also ever-conscious of the continuing challenge of adding to the glorious heritage handed down from the days of Matthew Fontaine Maury.