2 HYDROGRAPHICAL SURVEYING 



Avill quickly become a labour of love, and the constant atten- 

 tion and trouble necessary will be merged in the interest 

 taken in the work. Thorough honesty must always guide him, 

 so that nothing may appear that is not known to be correct. 

 Omissions there must always be, but let there be no sins of 

 commission, that pains and care will prevent. 



It is not of course suggested that all can become thorough 

 good surveyors in all branches. One man will have a par- 

 ticular aptitude for astronomical observing ; another will have 

 a natural talent as a draughtsman, that no efforts on the part 

 of another can compete with, and so on ; but to become a 

 good practical hand is within reach of all who seriously are 

 desirous of being so, and will take the trouble to gain the 

 necessary experience, without which all theory and book- 

 teaching will be useless. 



One crucial test of a surveyor's capability is his power of 

 so planning and carrying out his work as to economise time. 

 Even in a plan of an ordinary bay or harbour, which every 

 naval officer should be able to make, the trained surveyor, by 

 his experience of how to set about it, mil accomplish it in a 

 fraction of the time required by another. Nothing is more 

 important than the knowledge of how to suit means to the 

 end, and many hours are wasted by the anxious tyro in 

 endeavouring to attain an accuracy in detail which cannot be 

 utilised in the finished plan. 



Inside of the broad principles of map making, marine sur- 

 veying is made up of numerous dodges and details, for which 

 there is nothing like practical exposition on the ground, and 

 those who can get others to show them will need but little 

 other help, but as in many cases this instructor will not be at 

 hand, it is hoped that the following pages may sometimes 

 supply the information required. 



It may seem to many that some points remarked on are 

 too insignificant to be heeded, but those who are acquainted 

 with the work will know how much time is lost by inattention 

 to, or ignorance of, these little things, and a young surveyor 

 will be a very few days at work before he finds this out. 



We assume our reader to have the ordinary knowledge of 

 the sextant that all naval officers are taught, and that he is 

 not entirely ignorant of the first principles of making a plan 

 from a base by means of angles. 



