FOUNDING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE U. S. HYDROGRAPHIC 



OFFICE. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF A DEPOT FOR THE CHARTS AND INSTRUMENTS BELONGING TO THE NAV¥. 



On the 29th of November, 1829, the Board of Navy Com- 

 missioners made to the Secretary of the Navy the following 

 recommendation : 



" That an officer be appointed to take charge of all the better of Board 



11 ° of Comrmssion- 



nantical instruments, books, and charts not on board ship, frs recommend- 



' mg the establish- 

 to keep them in order for use when required. Among other ment of a Depot 



,., , _ , . , . , of charts, &c. 



duties he would be required to attend particularly to the 

 time pieces, or chronometers, to ascertain precisely their 

 character, such as their rate of deviation from true time, 

 whether they are affected by changes of weather, &c, for 

 the information of those who may have to use them at 

 sea. The character of each chronometer thus ascertained 

 should be delivered to the officer receiving the chronometer 

 itself." (Navy Commissioner's Letters to the Secretary of 

 the Navy, vol. 3, p. 280, Files of the Navy Department.) 



This recommendation was the initial step towards estab- 

 lishing a branch of the Navy Department devoted exclu- How vessel 

 sively to furthering the interests and lessening the dangers with charts and 

 of navigation. Prior to this time it had been the custom of previous years. 

 the service, when a naval vessel was in need of charts or 

 nautical instruments, for the commanding officer to forward 

 to the Board of Commissioners a requisition for such of these 

 articles as he deemed necessary. The requisition was ap- 

 proved by the Board and sent to the Navy agent at the 

 port where the vessel was fitting out, who fulfilled its con- 

 ditions by purchases from foreign Governments, or from 

 the few private dealers in this couutry. No test of instru- 

 ments was made previous to purchasing them ; the simple 

 recommendation of the seller was often the only guarantee 

 of the accuracy of a chronometer or the correctness of a 



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