THE WAR YEARS - (Cont'd) 



The Survey also conducted surveys, at the request of the Navy, in the British West Indies at 

 sites of proposed naval bases, and in Casco Bay, Maine and adjacent waters which were used 

 extensively as anchorages for naval vessels and particularly for ships engaged in convoy duty The 

 Survey ships Lydonia and Gilbert were engaged primarily in these surveys. 



The hundreds of wrecks along the Atlantic coast caused by enemy submarine action 

 constituted dangers to navigation. Concentrating in areas of immediate concern, the Survey's two 

 small (66-foot), wooden hulled, wiredragging vessels Wainwright and Hilgard searched for 

 underwater hazards off Delaware and Chesapeake Bays and along the coast of Florida. Several 

 Navy and Coast Guard ships to which Coast and Geodetic Survey Officers were assigned also 

 participated in these essential surveys. 



Before the war, surveying and charting of the Philippine Islands were being carried on under 

 a cooperative agreement with the Insular Government. Two ships were engaged in this effort, the 

 Fathomer which was owned by the Insular Government but under the command of Survey officers 

 and the Survey's Research which was the original Pathfinder built in 1899 and renamed in 1940. 

 At the outbreak of the war these two ships were engaged in surveys requested by the Navy in 

 Coron Passage, north of Palawan and off Bataan. The Research was damaged by a bombing attack 

 on Manila and later both ships proceeded to Corregidor where they suffered further damage from 

 bombs. Iht Research, which also served temporarily as a hospital ship, was finally beached in a 

 sinking condition at Bataan. The Fathomer was captured by the Japanese with the fall of Bataan 

 and put to use as a transport. She was destroyed by American bombing during the recapture of the 

 Islands. 



The valiant surveying efforts of this astonishing variety of ships are best attested to by the 

 over 43 million charts which were printed and issued by the Hydrographic Office in the peak year 

 1944. 



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