137 



From the enrly years, in fact, the ?Tavy has taken active n?rt 

 in scientific expeditions: sometimes of its- own initiative* some- 

 times suQ-Q orted hv special act of Congress-"-; so"etirn.gs in co oporr.- 

 ^;~~^ CaJ "Act of Congress of ^Tav 14, I806, authorizing the U^ S. Ex- 

 ploring Expedition in the Pacific Ocean and t^-e South Geas. 

 (h) Act of'congress of March 3, 1849, authorizing the test of 

 new routes and perfecting the discoveries of Maury in the 

 course of his investigations of tie winds and cur'-ents of 

 the oeean, 



(c) Exploration and Surveys in tlie Valle-^ of the Ama-^on, under 

 instructions from, the Navy Dep-^rtm_ent in 1851. 



(d) Act of Congress of August 1852, o^uthorizing the TT. S. :Torth 

 Pacific Surveying Expedition. 



(e) The Exploration of the Va'ile^- of the Rio de la Plata and 

 its Trihutaries, under instructions from the Navy Deo-'rt- 

 ment, Fehruary 1855. 



(f) Act of Congress authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to 

 accept and'take charge of, for ou.rposes of '''orth Poln- Ex- 

 ploration, the U. S. S. JEANETTE in 1879. 



(g) Act of Congress making appropriations for Ha"!]'s Arcti.c 

 Expedition in 1870. 



(h) Act of Congress of March 9, 1891, "To enahle t'-e President 

 to cause careful soundings to he made between San Franci- 

 sco, Gfii . , nnd lionolulii, in the K'^ngdom of fe Hawailai'i 

 Islands for tv-^e purpose of determ.ining t>"e practicahllity 

 m5 of living a telegraphic cahle between those points. " 



tion with other institutions, for ex.^mp! e in the recent gravit" ex- 

 pedition o-r t>^e Naval Observatory in cooperation with t^-^e Carnerrie 

 Institution of Was'^ington- and f reciuentl-^^ b-'- the detail of officers 

 and men to man the Bureau of Fisheries' steamer Albatross. 



Precedent and trpdition thus give reason to assume that the 

 Navy vifould always be glad to ,1oin in attacking problems of such 

 immediate navigational concern as ocean currents, a^ad in extending 

 the surveys of little-known coasts. This, in f-'ct, was definitely 

 stfted at the Oceanograpjiic Conference at the Navv Bop;' rtment in 

 the Slimmer of 19rM. 



And the Navy has now entered a broader field of Oceanoe;ra":^''-'ic 

 research, b"' the a'O^roval, by the Secretary of the de^^artment, of 

 the follov/ing recommendations by the Naval Foard on Oceanograohy; 



"(1) The preparation and issue to the service of a world 

 chart, shovv'ing un surveyed areas of the ocean. 



(2) That ins t-'"UGt ions be issued to com.man^lers-in-chief and 



to vessels operating signlv, providing f^at vessels suitably enuip- 

 ped for sou.nding operatinns take soundings in unsurveyed areas when- 

 ever their operrition permit; th-^.t these soundincs be transmitted 

 promptly to the F''drogra-Dhic Of+"'ice of the Nav^ rep':>r-tment. 



(3) That in -addition the lepartment indicate, w^'en circum- 

 stances pei-'-mit, to vessels making passne-e at sen ? particTilar ] 1^:6 

 ot soundings a.'hich t^ie Department desires m:-?de. 



The preceding recommendations a^-e based uoon the idea of r 



