Work of the U. S. Hydrographic Office 6i 



ried Prince Peter, the present head of 

 the Karageorgeovitch family, which ap- 

 proves of his selection; and thus, if he 

 were to reach the Servian throne, the 

 feud that has wrecked that country 

 might be permanently healed. The suc- 

 cess of this arrangement, involving the 

 peace of Servia, the supremacy of Rus- 

 sia in its government, and perhaps the 



political control of the Balkan Penin- 

 sula, is checked by the refusal of a good 

 woman to receive a bad woman as her 

 guest. Count Tamsdorff, the Russian 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs, has recently 

 visited Sofia and Belgrade, and the 

 newspaper dispatches from those coun- 

 tries predict events of importance to> 

 occur soon. 



THE WORK OF THE U. S. HYDROGRAPHIC 



OFFICE* 



By Commander W-. H. H. Southerland, U. S. N., 



Hydrographer 



I APPEAR before you this evening 

 to describe the work of the U. S. 

 Hydrographic Office, and in so 

 doing I shall make an earnest effort to 

 give you as definite an idea as possible 

 of the character, mode of operation, and 

 the valuable practical results of this 

 the most unique and at the same time 

 the least known of all the technical 

 offices supported by our government — 

 unique in that it is the only office on 

 this continent which publishes charts, 

 sailing directions, and other necessary 

 aids to navigation relating to foreign 

 countries, and little known in that its 

 work is principally for a particular 

 class — the seafaring class. 



ORGANIZATION AND HISTORY OP THE 

 OFFICE 



Before proceeding with this descrip- 

 tion, a short resume of the phases 

 through which the office has passed 

 from its inception to the present time 

 may prove of interest. 



Prior to 1830, whenever a naval ves- 

 sel was in need of charts or nautical in- 

 struments it was the custom for the 

 commanding officer to forward to the 



Board of Navy Commissioners a requisi- 

 tion for such of these articles as he 

 deemed necessary. This requisition, 

 when approved by the board, was sent 

 to the navy agent at the port where the 

 vessel was fitting out, who filled it as far 

 as possible by purchase from foreign 

 governments or from the few private 

 dealers in this country. These purchases 

 were afterwards supplemented during 

 the vessel's cruise by such additions as 

 were from time to time deemed advisa- 

 ble by the commanding officer; and at 

 the end of the cruise, when the vessel 

 was put out of commission, her charts 

 and instruments were turned in at a 

 navy yard, where they were stowed 

 away and no further attention was paid 

 to them until they might be needed 

 again. 



The result, of course, was that very 

 often needed charts could not be pur- 

 chased and delivered before the date of 

 sailing, or instruments were placed on 

 board without being adjusted or stand- 

 ardized, and it was very seldom that 

 charts so purchased had been corrected 

 up to date. In fact, no official means 

 then existed by which mariners could 



* An address before the National Geographic Society, January 16, 1903. 



