The National Geographic Magazine 



bring the Survey into existence after it 

 had been authorized by Congress. 



Mr Gallatin's first step was to invite 

 the opinion of scientific men as to the 

 plans to be adopted, in a circular setting 

 forth the objects to be attained. Thir- 

 teen replies were received, and these 

 were referred to a committee of the 

 American Philosophical Society, which 

 recommended the adoption of the plan 

 submitted by Mr Hassler. We shall 

 presently see that 36 years later another 

 committee of learned men, called to- 

 gether to reorganize the Survey , affirmed 

 and adopted the scientific methods of 

 Hassler and adapted them to the larger 

 work devolved on the Survey by the 

 extension of our domain. It thus hap- 

 pens that in the case of the Coast Survey 

 the most competent authorities of the 

 times were consulted to prescribe the 

 principles on which the work was to be 

 carried out. This later generation of 

 men may well be thankful for the pre- 

 vision of the two statesmen who gave 

 direction to the work, and for the wis- 

 dom of those who conceived in those 

 early days the broad lines on which the 

 work was to be conducted; for though 

 the methods have been modified, 

 changed, and perfected, the principles 

 then prescribed have guided the Survey 

 ever since. 



THE NEED FOR A COAST SURVEY 



The problem before the Survey was 

 to perform a national as well as an in- 

 ternational duty. It behooves every 

 country, in the interests of humanity, to 

 safeguard the lives and property which 

 are continually at stake on the great 

 highways of commerce along the shores 

 of the oceans ; and the first step toward 

 the fulfillment of this obligation is to 

 map the coasts and chart the waters, in 

 order that the mariner may have before 

 him a graphic guide of the routes he 

 must follow to insure the safety of the 

 lives and property committed to his 



charge. The high seas claim their 

 victims through fogs and storms and 

 collisions, but to the experienced navi- 

 gator the open ocean is a place of safety, 

 while a proximity to the coasts, even 

 where surveys and light-houses have 

 minimized the risks, inspires feelings of 

 grave responsibility and even of dread 

 of hidden dangers, of unknown cur- 

 rents, and of collisions where busy 

 commerce concentrates in narrowing 

 lines the coming and departing ships. 

 Mr Hassler, whose plan was adopted, 

 was a Swiss by birth, a man of great 

 learning and well qualified by experi- 

 ence to outline the scientific principles 

 on which an extended survey was to be 

 conducted. His task was a difficult one, 

 for neither men trained in the profession 

 nor instruments were to be had in our 

 country, nor was there a common ap- 

 preciation of the importance of the work 

 at that time. He went to England in 

 181 1 to procure instruments, but the 

 war with that country deferred the ac- 

 complishment of his purpose. It was 

 not until 18 16 that he was appointed 

 Superintendent, and though he immedi- 

 ately began his operations with vigor 

 they were cut short by the practical 

 abolition of the Survey two years later 

 through the revocation of the authority 

 to employ civilians on the work. Its 

 connection with the Treasury Depart- 

 ment ceased, and the country became 

 dependent for its charts on the private 

 enterprise of the Messrs Blunt, of New 

 York, and on fitful and uns3'Stematic 

 surveys made under the Navy Depart- 

 ment. On the recommendation of the 

 Secretary of the Navy the original act 

 of 1807 was revived and the Survey was 

 resumed in 1832 under Mr Hassler' s di- 

 rection, and it was again placed under 

 the Secretary of the Treasury, only, 

 however, to be retransferred to the 

 Navy in 1834. This arrangement again 

 proved to be unsatisfactory, and in 1836 

 the Survey was finally placed under the 

 Treasury Department. 



