16 THE NAVY OCEANOGRAPHIC OPERATIONS PROGRAM 



as early as 1811— to make surveys of our domestic harbors. The 

 seriousness of the matter was finally recognized by the Board of 

 Naval Commissioners and the Secretary of the Navy in 1830, when, 

 at the suggestion of Lieutenant Louis Goldsborough, a Navy Depot 

 of Charts and Instruments was established in Washington, D. C. 



The Depot and its successors— the Naval Observatory and 

 Hydrographical Office, the Navy Hydrographic Office, and the 

 Naval Oceanographic Office, in that order— have been responsible 

 for improving the means of navigating vessels of the Navy and 

 merchant marine. As an integral part of the Naval Oceanographic 

 Operations Program, the Oceanographic Office provides a global 

 navigation service to the Fleet, the Merchant Marine, and other 

 ship users, and thus gives primary support not only to naval, but 

 to other national and international oceanographic needs and 

 objectives. 



This service includes the preparation, production, and issue of 

 nautical charts and related navigational publications such as navi- 

 gational manuals and tables, and Sailing Directions and Light 

 Lists for all world areas except United States coastal and 

 territorial waters. In addition, it includes production and issue 

 of a wide range of other navigational tools needed by the mariner, 

 such as radio and weather navigational aids publications; manuals 

 on air, marine, submarine, and ice navigation; and marine atlases 

 of all types. Equally important, it includes a continuing product 

 correction service and a navigational warning system for the ben- 

 efit of navigational chart and publication users. This system 

 utilizes radio broadcasts, periodicals, and other publications 

 advising navigators of newly reported hazards and important 

 changes affecting U. S. navigational charts and publications held 

 by them. 



A system of continuous product correction is essential to assure 

 the safety of life and property at sea. The method used to advise 

 mariners is determined by the urgency of the corrective material. 

 The failure of a major navigational light, the blocking of a channel 

 by a wreck, or the discovery of a dangerous shoal is broadcast as 

 an emergency message by radio, whereas less urgent information 

 of importance to navigation is prepared and distributed in printed 

 form. Scheduled radio transmission of navigational warnings was 



