47 



and Indian Oceans had been, from time to time, issued by 



the Office. The preparation was begun, in 1880, of similar Preparations 



navigating - charts of the South Atlantic upon a scale uni- <>'! {"uw'iirS 



form with the general charts already published. As these \L\io. South At ~ 



charts of the South Atlantic were successively issued they 



were substituted for those printed from the plates originally 



purchased from the Messrs. Blunt. 



A copy of a survey of the Sandwich, or Hawaiian, Islands, 

 made by that Government, was received at the Office in 

 1880; as were also results of the survey of the west coast of 

 Mexico, from Mangrove Bluff to the Gulf of Fonseca, made 

 by the Tuscarora, under Commander Philip. 



During the year sailing directions were published for " The Publications of 

 West Coast of Mexico from the boundary line of the United 

 States to Cape Corrientes, including the Gulf of California," 

 compiled by Lieut. Samuel Belden; and a supplement to 

 " Reported Dangers in the North Pacific," by Commander 

 William Gibson. Only five charts were published during 

 the year — four lithographed and one engraved — nearly the 

 entire force having been engaged in correcting plates. 



On the 14th of July, 1880, Capt. J. C. P. de Krafft was captain de 

 ordered to take charge of the Hydrographic Office, and on Hydrograpner* 8 

 the same date he relieved Captain Franklin as Hydrog- 

 rapher. 



FISCAL TEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1881. 



During 1881, the hydrographic work performed by our 

 vessels on the several stations was greatly increased over 

 preceding years. But the meagerness of the appropriation 

 made for carrying on the work of the Office rendered it 

 necessary to adhere mainly to the cheap process of repro- 

 ducing charts by photolithography. This method, while 

 costing less for the first issue of the charts, ultimately 

 proved to be more expensive than that of engraving, since 

 the engraved plates could be readily corrected, from time to 

 time, while any extensive change in a chart produced by 

 the former process required a new issue. 



The list of vessels from which hydrographic information Reports of sur- 

 was received at the Office during 1881, comprises nearly b^narawessefs! 

 all the ships that were then cruising. The Tuscarora and 

 the Banger, successively under Commander Philip, did im- 

 portant surveying work on the west coast of Mexico, and 



