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This finely engraved sea chart presents the rugged Pacific coastline of Central America from Judas Point in Costa Rica southward to Burica Point, near the Panama border, based on hydrographic surveys undertaken by the United States Navy vessel U.S.S. Ranger in 1885. The chart captures in intricate detail the coastal geography, soundings, anchorages, and hazards along this stretch of the Pacific Coast at a time of expanding Pacific trade and strategic realignment in Central America.

The hydrographic survey work conducted by Ranger was part of a larger American effort to ensure navigational safety and to assert a stable presence in a region marked by political turbulence and strategic importance, particularly in proximity to the proposed Isthmian canal routes.

The U.S.S. Ranger and Her Hydrographic Service

Laid down in 1873 and launched in 1876 by Harlan and Hollingsworth in Wilmington, Delaware, the U.S.S. Ranger was an iron-hulled, steam-powered sloop-of-war with auxiliary sail capabilities, part of a transitional generation of naval vessels bridging traditional sail power and emerging steam technology. Commissioned at League Island Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia under Commander H.D. Manley, Ranger was initially destined for the Atlantic Station but was promptly reassigned to the Asiatic Fleet in 1877, reaching Hong Kong after a passage through Gibraltar, the Suez Canal, and the Straits of Malacca. Her early missions involved safeguarding American commercial and diplomatic interests in the Far East.

Following her return to the United States in 1880, Ranger was converted at Mare Island Navy Yard in San Francisco Bay into a survey vessel. Between 1881 and 1889, she conducted extensive hydrographic surveys along the coasts of Mexico, Baja California, and Central America, with intermittent deployments to protect American interests during the frequent political upheavals of the region. Her surveys produced critical nautical intelligence at a time when accurate charts were essential for expanding commerce and naval operations in the eastern Pacific.

Decommissioned briefly in 1891–1892, Ranger was later reactivated to patrol American seal fisheries in the Bering Sea and again to monitor Central American affairs during periods of instability.  She was deployed once more to the Asiatic Station in 1905 but was plagued by maintenance issues, eventually being returned to Boston via the Suez Canal in 1908.

In her later years, Ranger transitioned from naval to educational service. Loaned to the state of Massachusetts in 1909, she was renamed Rockport and Nantucket and employed as a school ship for naval and merchant marine training. During World War I, she served in the First Naval District, operating as a gunboat and training vessel. Ultimately redesignated IX-18 in 1921, she was stricken from the Navy list in 1940 and thereafter used by the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, before her final disposition.