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Description

Fine separately issued chart of the coast of Long Island (centered on the Hamptons), published by the United States Coast survey in 1857.

The chart includes several coastal recognition views. Extends from Moriches Bay to Gardiner's Bay, with excellent detail.

Between 1851 and 1857, the Island was mapped by the Coast Survey in 3 sections, the last two of which appeared in 1857. While in theory the 3 can be joined as a single map, they were issued separately and we have never seen the 3 sections offered together as a single set.

 

Condition Description
Separately published on thick paper. A few minor tears, repaired on verso.
United States Coast Survey Biography

The United States Office of the Coast Survey began in 1807, when Thomas Jefferson founded the Survey of the Coast. However, the fledgling office was plagued by the War of 1812 and disagreements over whether it should be civilian or military controlled. The entity was re-founded in 1832 with Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler as its superintendent. Although a civilian agency, many military officers served the office; army officers tended to perform the topographic surveys, while naval officers conducted the hydrographic work.

The Survey’s history was greatly affected by larger events in American history. During the Civil War, while the agency was led by Alexander Dallas Bache (Benjamin Franklin’s grandson), the Survey provided the Union army with charts. Survey personnel accompanied blockading squadrons in the field, making new charts in the process.

After the Civil War, as the country was settled, the Coast Survey sent parties to make new maps, employing scientists and naturalists like John Muir and Louis Agassiz in the process. By 1926, the Survey expanded their purview further to include aeronautical charts. During the Great Depression, the Coast Survey employed over 10,000 people and in the Second World War the office oversaw the production of 100 million maps for the Allies. Since 1970, the Coastal and Geodetic Survey has formed part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and it is still producing navigational products and services today.