46 

 Establishment The important aud accurate work accomplished by Lieu- 



of a department x ' . 



of longitudes in tenant Commander Green, aud the party under his charge, in 

 determining longitudes by telegraph, induced the Hydrog- 

 rapher to establish a " Department of Longitudes " in the 

 Hydrographic Office. The object of this department was 

 to verify the results of observations made for determining 

 the geographical positions of places the latitudes and lon- 

 gitudes of which were uncertain or unknown. 

 Pupations of Sailing directions were published during the year for "The 

 Mediterranean Sea, comprising the Coasts of Tunis, Sar- 

 dinia, the Sicily and Malta Channels, Lipari Islands, Island 

 of Sicily, Strait of Messina, and the Coasts of Tripoli, Egypt r 

 and Syria," compiled by Lieut. Commander H. H. Gorringe,. 

 and Lieut. Seaton Schroeder; also a "List of Eeported 

 Dangers to Navigation in the Pacific, South of the Equator," 

 compiled by Lieut. J. E. Pillsbury. Of the eleven charts 

 published, six were engraved and five lithographed. Ex- 

 tensive corrections were also made upon the plates of charts 

 previously published. 



FISCAL TEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1880. 



quarterly is tS During the year, 1880, the Hydrographer adopted the pla 

 ments adopted. f i ssu ing quarterly statements of the operations of the O 

 fice. By au act of May 3, 1880, an appropriation of $11,00 

 was passed for preparing and publishing the surveys of th 

 Amazon and Madeira Eivers and their approaches ; also on 

 of $12,000 for preparing and publishing the surveys of th 

 Pacific coast of Mexico. 



Work was still continued on the Meteorological Charts o 

 the North and South Atlantic Oceans; and in addition to 

 hydrographic information regularly forwarded by our naval 

 vessels, data for the construction of such charts were re- 

 ceived from a greatly increased number of merchantmen. 



One of the chief aims of the Hydrographic Office being to 

 render the United States independent of foreign Govern- 

 ments, by publishing its own charts and sailing directions, 

 Naval vessels our men-of-war, in the absence of appropriations for the 

 make raS surve.ys" employment of regular surveying vessels, are encouraged 

 to make special surveys and explorations at every oppor 

 tunity, in addition to their strictly naval duties. As th 

 results of these surveys and investigations accumulated 

 general charts of portions of the North Atlantic, Pacific 



