1886 U.S. Coast Survey Chart or Map of the Savannah River, Georgia
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Description: This is a rarely seen nautical chart of Savanna Georgia, the Savanna River, and environs. Depicts from Savannah eastward to Hilton Head Island and southward as far as the entrance to the Vernon River. Shows Wassaw Sound, Skiddaway Island, Wassaw Island, Wilmington Island, Tybee Island, Turtle Island and Jones Islands. Offers superb detail both inland and offshore. Has a detailed city plan of the city of Savannah showing the grid structure, outlying buildings, and surrounding farmlands. Offshore, this chart offers countless depth soundings throughout as well as showing shoals and depth zones through shading. Notes on Tides, Soundings, and weather in the upper left quadrant. Notes on lighthouses in the lower right quadrant. Title area in the upper right quadrant. Based upon a similar though less detailed chart of this region first issued by the Coast Survey in 1867. Prepared under the supervision of F. M. Thorn, Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey in 1886.
Date: 1886 (dated)
Source: Thorn, F. M., Report of the Navy Yard Site Comission, Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Coasts, Appendix H., 1886.
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 26.5 x 20.5 inches (67.31 x 52.07 centimeters)
Condition: Very good condition. Minor verso reinforcement and toning on some of the original fold lines.
Code: SavannahRiver-uscs-1886 (Necessary for phone inquiries: 646-320-8650)
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