forty-five or fifty days, a discrepancy between the calcu- 

 lated and actual position of our ship of not less than 85 or 

 100 miles, a distance sufficient to jeopardize the safety of 

 half a million of public property and the lives of seven 

 hundred and fifty men. Had we been directed to continue 

 our course around Cape Horn without stopping at Eio or 

 elsewhere, or had we been directed, in time of war, to 

 cruise at sea the same number of days employed on our 

 passage (which amounted to one hundred and two, deducting 

 our detention at Eio), this chronometer, though subse- 

 quently proving itself of great value and correctness, being 

 thus improperly rated, would have led us into an error ex- 

 ceeding the distance of 200 miles." (Officers' Letters to 

 Secretary of the Navy, vol. ix, p. 53, Files of the Navy 

 Department.) 



The views and suggestions of Lieutenant Goldsborough 

 met with the approbation of the Secretary of the Navy, and 

 were by him forwarded to the Board of Navy Commissioners 

 for further consideration. The Board of Commissioners, 

 of which Commodore John Rodgers was then president, 

 urged the prompt establishment of such a depot, and 

 recommended that it be located at the seat of Government. 

 Lieutenant Accordingly, on the Gth of December, 1830, Lieutenant 

 dered to collect Goldsborough was directed to proceed to Philadelphia, 

 and bring them New York, Portsmouth, N. H., and Norfolk, Va., to receive 

 o as mgton. f rom ^e commatlc i an ts of the navy-yards at those places 

 chronometers, sextants, theodolites, circles, and other nau- 

 tical instruments not in use, and transport them to Wash- 

 ington. (Navy Commissioners' Letters to Officers, vol. i, p. 

 500, Files of the Navy Department.) 



In obedience to this order Lieutenant Goldsborough col- 

 lected the instruments belonging to the Navy, brought them 

 to Washington, and deposited them in a building, rented for 

 that purpose, situated on what is now G street northwest, 

 between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets. (Memoir of 

 the Founding of the TJ. S. Naval Observatory, Prof. J. E. 

 Nourse, U. S. N., p. 14.) 

 Lieutenant Lieutenant Goldsborough was naturally the first officer 

 de°re! t™ Ta ke ordered to take charge of the depot thus established. The 

 charge o the De- commau( j an t;s of the several navy-yards were directed to 

 forward all the charts and nautical books stored at their 

 respective yards, which, on their arrival at the depot, were 

 systematically arranged, marked, boxed, and placed in a 



