62 



power. Many brought their meteorological instruments to 

 the branch offices for comparison and correction, in order 

 that their information might be more valuable to the Office 

 in the future. 



The latest additions of standard charts were kept at all 

 the branch offices, and ship-masters availed themselves of 

 the opportunity to make needed corrections to their own. 

 To still further enhance their value to the commercial 



Timu-baiis es- marine, time-balls were established at the branch offices in 

 branch e offlces tlie Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, and San Francisco, 

 thus enadling merchant captains to rate their chronometers 

 by an easy and accurate method. 



Reports of sur- Reports of surveys, soundings, investigations of s upposed 



veys. &c, made , . . , , , , . , 



by naval vessels, dangers, or information concerning other hydrographical 

 subjects were received from the Hartford, Captain Perkins; 

 the Wachusett, Commander Mahan ; the Lackawanna, Capt. 

 A. P. Cooke ; the Shenandoah, Captain Norton ; the-Yantic, 

 Commander Wildes; the Iroquois, Commander Sterling; 

 the Nipsic, Commander Seeley; the Essex, Commander Mc- 

 Cormick ; the Powhatan, Captain Beardslee ; the Banger, 

 Commander 0. E. Clark ; the Swatara, Commander Wiltze; 

 the Alliance, Commander Lewis Clark ; the Tennessee, Cap- 

 tain Stanton ; thp Alert, Commander Barclay; the Juniata, 

 Commander Harrington; the Palos, Lieutenant-Commander 

 Nelson; the Kearsarge, Commander Bridgman, as well as 

 from the Fish Commission steamer Albatross, Lieutenant- 

 Commander Tanner, and the Light- house tender Madrno». 

 Reports of Ex- The results of extensive explorations in Northern Alaska 



plo rations in ^#v» , -r • , , oc ; ,„ 



Alaska, were sent to the Office by Lieutenant Stoney, whUe reports 



of numerous dangers to navigation, and other important 

 maritime information were forwarded by the merchant cap- 

 tains through the various branch offices. 

 Publications of During this vear there were prepared and published in 



the Office. ** l ' L 



the Office sailing directions for "The Caribbean Sea and 

 Gulf of Mexico," by Lieut. W. W. Gilpatrick ; "Light Lists of 

 the East and West Coasts of North and South America, the 

 West Indies, and Pacific Islands ;"of the "North, Baltic, and 

 White Seas, including the Coasts of Denmark, Russia, Prus- 

 sia, Sweden, and Norway;" of the "British Isles, the Atlantic 

 Coast of Europe, including France, Belgium, and Holland;" 

 of the "Mediterranean Sea, including the Adriatic, the Black 

 Sea, and the Sea of Azof;" of the " West, South, and East 

 Coasts of Africa, the East India Islands, China, Japan f 



