CATALOGUE OF INSTITUTIONS— INTERNATIONAL 



99 



set lip by the Se\'enth Congress to elaborate a 

 terminology to be employed in describing the 

 forms of the relief of the ocean bottom. This 

 committee consisted of Baron von Richthofen, 

 Chairman, Professors Kriimmel, Pettersson, Su- 

 pan, Thoulet, Doctors Hugh Robert Mill and 

 Nansen, and Admiral Makaroff; and it met at 

 Wiesbaden (Germany) in April, 1903. It was 

 at this meeting that Prince Albert offered to 

 draw the chart and meet all the expenses con- 

 nected therewith. In 1912 a second and up-to- 

 date edition was commenced, but it was not until 

 1930 that this was completed. Meanwhile, un- 

 fortunately. Prince Albert died and, though he 

 had made provision for the completion of the 

 second edition, no funds existed to carry on the 

 valuable work. However, in April, 1929, the 

 First Supplementary International Hydrographic 

 Conference decided that this should be done by 

 the International Hydrographic Bureau. 



The use of original charts, instead of reprints 

 by foreign nations, has long been held advisable, 

 and one of the purposes of the Bureau is to help 

 realize this ami. Naturally, this could not be 

 attempted unless the signs, symbols, and abbrevia- 

 tions on all charts all over the world were stand- 

 ardized. This question has been discussed in 

 detail at all the International Hydrographic 

 Conferences, and gradually more and more of the 

 .symbols in common use have been standardized 

 by the various hydrographic offices. In order to 

 facilitate this, the Bureau has prepared a synoptic 

 table showing the various symbols and abbrevia- 

 tions in use by the different countries. In spite 

 of the desire of practically all hydrographic 

 offices to conform to a standard set of signs and 

 symbols, the realization of this aim still lies in the 

 distant future owing to the excessive cost of 

 making changes on existing charts. The be.st 

 which can be hoped, under these conditions, is 

 that, with the issue of new charts, the symbols 

 adopted at the conferences will gradually be sub- 

 stituted for the old symbols. 



The International Hydrographic Bureau has 

 prepared also a synoptic table showing the signs, 

 symbols, and abbreviations in use by the various 

 hydrographic offices which publish charts for 

 aerial navigation. This table was then turned 

 over to the International Committee on Aerial 

 Navigation, where it was made the basis of a 

 study by the delegates to a conference on aerial 

 navigation. Fortunately, as but few hydro- 



graphic offices had started the publication of 

 charts for coastal aerial navigation, there is great 

 hope of early standardization, which will obviate 

 the confusion which prevailed owing to the multi- 

 plicity of symbols formerly in use on marine 

 charts. 



From the above it will be seen that the Inter- 

 national Hydrographic Bureau, although created 

 with the principal object of coordinating the 

 work of the hydrographic services of its members 

 and to establish a close and permanent association 

 between them, has as its main object the improve- 

 ment of navigation and thus should appeal to all 

 tho.se who "go down to the sea in ships." 



Equipment: Offices and library, especially a large 

 collection of charts. 



Staff: Directing Committee: President, Vice- Ad- 

 miral J. D. Nares, D.S.C. (Retired) (Great 

 Britain) ; Members, Rear-Admiral W. S. Crosley, 

 U. S. Navy (Retired), Ing^nieur Hydrographe 

 G^n^ral de r&erve P. de Vanssay de Blavous 

 (France); Secretary-General, Vacant. 



Provisions for visiting investigators: Members may 

 temporarily attach an official to the Bureau for 

 study or obtaining information. 



Income: 169,600 gold francs (about $56,500) at the 



. moment. 



Provision for publication of results: The following are 

 the regular publications of the Bureau: 

 Annual Report 



This contains a general report on the adminis- 

 tration and work of Bureau. 

 Special Publications 



These publications are issued at irregular inter- 

 vals and contain information which is likely to be 

 of more than passing interest. Some of them 

 contain tables which are of permanent interest. 

 Hydrographic Review 



The first number was issued in March 1923, but 

 in 1924 and thereafter this publication has been 

 issued twice annually, in May and November, 

 except in 1926 when one number only was issued 

 (in July). Each volume consists of two numbers, 

 which are themselves fair-sized books, containing 

 from 200 to 300 pages. The contents are very 

 varied and include articles by authorities of many 

 nations, dealing with nearly every aspect of 

 hydrography and with many allied sciences in so 

 far as they affect hydrography. It is an organ 

 for free discussion and exchange of views between 

 hydrographic surveyors and it contains a bibliog- 

 raphy of hydrographic publications. 



