1853 U.S.C.S. Map of Galveston City and Harbor, Texas
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Description: A rare hand colored 1853 costal chart of Galveston harbor, Texas and the finest chart in this series. Includes detailed sailing instructions, depth soundings, and impressive inland detail of the city of Galveston and vicinity. Triangulations were accomplished in 1848 by R.H. Fauntleroy and J.S. Williams, the topography was accomplished in 1849 & 1850 by J.M. Wampler, while the hydrography was under the direction of T.A. Craven and A.S. Baldwin in 1851 and 1852.. Published under the direction of A. D. Bache for the 1853 Report of the Superintendant of the U.S. Coast Survey.
Date: 1853
References: Phillips, Philip Lee, A List of Maps in the Library of Congress, p. 291; Smith, Murphy D. ”Realms of Gold”: A Catalogue of Map in the Library of the American Philosophical Society, 1230.
Cartographer: The Office of the Coast Survey, founded in 1807 by President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of Commerce Albert Gallatin, is the oldest scientific organization in the U.S. Federal Government. Jefferson created the "Survey of the Coast," as it was then called, in response to a need for accurate navigational charts of the new nation's coasts and harbors. The first superintendent of the Coast Survey was Swiss immigrant and West Point mathematics professor Ferdinand Hassler. Under the direction of Hassler, from 1816 to 1843, the ideological and scientific foundations for the Coast Survey were established. Hassler, and the Coast Survey under him developed a reputation for uncompromising dedication to the principles of accuracy and excellence. Hassler lead the Coast Survey until his death in 1843, at which time Alexander Dallas Bache, a great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, took the helm. Under the leadership A. D. Bache, the Coast Survey did most of its most important work. During his Superintendence, from 1843 to 1865, Bache was steadfast advocate of American science and navigation and in fact founded the American Academy of Sciences. Bache was succeeded by Benjamin Pierce who ran the Survey from 1867 to 1874. Pierce was in turn succeeded by Carlile Pollock Patterson who was Superintendent from 1874 to 1881. In 1878, under Patterson's superintendence, the U.S. Coast Survey was reorganized as the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (C & GS or USGS) to accommodate topographic as well as nautical surveys. Today the Coast Survey is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA. Click here for a list of rare maps from the U. S. Coast Survey.
Size: Printed area measures 17.5 x 14.5 inches (44.45 x 36.83 centimeters)
Condition: Very Good condition. Blank on verso. Good margins.
Code: Galveston-uscs-1853 (Necessary for phone inquiries: 646-320-8650)
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