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Description

Fine early Coast Survey chart of the area around Key West, from an early survey.

The chart covers Key West, Stock Isle, Racoon Key, NW Boca Chica Key, Boen Grande Key, Woman Key, Cotteral's Key, Mule Key, Snipe Key, East Crawfish Key, Man Key, Tripod Beacon, King Fish Shoal Flemmings Key, Fort Taylor, Flagstaff, Salt Works, Buoys, and many other details. Lots of soundings and Channel details.

A large chart of Sailing Directions and Tides is included, along with details on the channel depths.

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.