PREFACE 



This sLxth edition of the Nautical Chart Manual has been pre- 

 pared as a practical instruction guide to cartographers and engineers 

 in the construction and revision of nautical charts. To serve this 

 purpose it must present the basic essentials of chart construction 

 and the details of current charting practices of the Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey, U.S. Department of Commerce. 



Due to -the inherent variables of chart usage and need, no two 

 charts may ever be exactly similar in character and scope. The 

 economic importance and development of an area, the number and 

 kinds of dangers therein, and the scale requirement are some of the 

 variables that make a nautical chart an individual work that must, 

 however, conform to general standards. 



The primary purpose of this Manual is to define these standards 

 in a manner that, when applied, insures accuracy, completeness, 

 uniformity, and simplicity in the general appearance of the nautical 

 charts issued by the Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



The first edition of this Manual, a 34-page pamphlet entitled 

 "Rules and Practice Relating to Construction of Nautical Charts," 

 by George L. Flower, Chief, Drafting Section, was pubUshed in 1920. 

 In 1944, Mr. H. R. Edmonston, Assistant Chief, Nautical Chart 

 Branch, reconstructed and expanded this Manual to 55 loose-leaf 

 pages, including for the first time, the symbols and abbreviation 

 sheets. Three subsequent editions, each entitled "Nautical Chart 

 Manual," by H. R. Edmonston, Chief, Nautical Chart Branch, were 

 published in 1948, 1952, and 1956. This 1963 printmg, the sixth 

 edition, under the administration of CDR Marvin T. Paulson, 

 Chief, Nautical Chart Division, was edited by Wallace A. Bruder, 

 Assistant Chief, Nautical Chart Division. This sixth edition in- 

 cludes extensive revisions, reconstructions, and additions by the 

 entire personnel of the Nautical Chart Division and brings the 

 instructions and other details up to present practice. 



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