What is the history of U.S. chart-making? (Early years)

The information on the first U.S. nautical charts came from a variety of sources, such as informal sailing directions, written accounts of harbors, and weather reports. Sometimes, rough sketches or other artwork were included. This data was often vague and incomplete; as a result, navigation was not nearly as accurate as it is today, and shipwrecks were common.

The first official nautical charts of the United States were created by the British Admiralty of Colonial America. In 1777, Colonel Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres published The Atlantic Neptune, which mapped many coasts and harbors of the British colonies in North America.

A portrait of Ferdinand R. Hassler, the first leader of the established Office of Coast Survey.

In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson was authorized by Congress to commission a survey of U.S. coasts. The survey would cover islands, shoals, roads, and anchorages located within 60 miles of U.S. shorelines. However, the early years of the survey effort were met with many challenges — both technological and political.

Different proposals for conducting the survey were received, but Jefferson selected Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler’s proposal to conduct a trigonometric survey of the U.S. coast. Even today, trigonometric surveying is considered a precise surveying method. Hassler's plan required specialized scientific instruments that were not available in the U.S., and he traveled to Great Britain to oversee the instruments’ design and manufacture, delaying the start of work.

Unfortunately, many factors further delayed the start of Hassler’s work. The War of 1812 between the U.S. and Great Britain kept him from immediately returning to the U.S. After the war ended, he returned to the U.S. in 1815 and started surveying New York Harbor in 1817. Congress then suspended the work due to tensions between civilian and military control of the surveying agency. The U.S. Navy performed the nation’s surveying work until 1832.

In that year, the civilian Office of Coast Survey was established, with Hassler as its first superintendent. The Office of Coast Survey conducted the first hydrographic survey along the south shore of Long Island, and from 1836-1838, the renamed U.S. Coast Survey conducted its first topographic surveys of the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut coasts. Topographic surveys measure the height, depth, size, shape, and location of a landscape’s natural and manmade features. In 1835, the first nautical chart was produced, and it was of Bridgeport Harbor, Connecticut.

From 1878 until 1970, the nation’s nautical chartmaker was known as Coast and Geodetic Survey to reflect the growing importance of geodesy in the office’s work. Geodesy is the science of measuring and monitoring the size and shape of the Earth and the location of points on its surface.