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MAP #: 356U6

CARTOGRAPHER : UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY

DATE: 1856

SHORT TITLE : SKETCH C SHOWING THE PROGRESS OF THE SURVEY IN SECTION III

REMAINING TITLE & ID : FROM 1843 TO 1856 SCALE 1/400.000 1856 (BOTTOM LEFT CORNER). "NO. 7" (LEFT TOP MARGIN). SCALE IN STATUTE MILES (CENTER BOTTOM MARGIN). "U.S. COAST SURVEY A.D. BACHE SUPERINTENDENT" (ABOVE TITLE). UNTITLED TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS, SYMBOLS AND LINES (BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER). ENGRAVING EXTENDS INTO TOP AND RIGHT MARGINS THROUGH THE NEAT LINES. THE SKETCH IS WIDER BETWEEN THE NEAT LINES AT THE BOTTOM THAN AT THE TOP (57.3 CM. AT TOP AND 58.5 CM. AT BOTTOM). THE REVERSE SIDE IS BLANK. LONGITUDE WEST FROM GREENWICH (TOP AND BOTTOM BORDERS). LATITUDE (RIGHT AND LEFT BORDERS).

DATE OF PUBLICATION : S1856
PLACE OF PUBLICATION : WASHINGTON
PUBLISHER : U.S. COAST SURVEY
LANGUAGE(S) : EN
SIZE (HEIGHT X WIDTH) : 86.2 X 57.3 CM. (BETWEEN NEAT LINES)
SIZE - OTHER DATA : 70.8 X 49.5 CM. OM (REDUCED SIZE PHOTOCOPY)
SCALE - (RF) 1: : 400,000
SCALE - OTHER DATA : 40 STATUTE MILES = 15.9 CM.
LIB. OF CONGRESS # : -
Md. HALL OF RECORDS # 1 : MSA SC1399-405 (REPRO)
ACQ. PRIORITY : 3
HUNTINGFIELD ACQ. # 1 : -
REGION CATEGORY : CHART ON WHICH THE MD/CHESAPEAKE AREA IS ONE MAIN FOCUS (1)
SPECIAL CATEGORY(IES) : USCS CHART (4)
: PROGRESS SKETCH (20)
# SHEETS TO MAP : 1
MAP ORIENTATION : N IS AT THE TOP OF THE CHART
RELIEF SHOWN ? : NO
HYDROGRAPHIC DATA : SHOAL SOUNDINGS ARE SHOWN IN FATHOMS IN THE OCEAN AREA.
: SHOALS ARE SHOWN BY SHADING.
CARTOUCHE : NONE (1)
BORDER : SIMPLE FUNCTIONAL (5)
PRIME MERIDIAN(S) : GREENWICH (1)
SEE ALSO MAP #s : -
BEST INFO SOURCE : THE 1856 USCS ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS IS THE ONLY SOURCE FOUND.
DESCRIPTION : THIS SKETCH OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AREA WAS ISSUED AS SKETCH NO. 7 TO ILLUSTRATE THE REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE COAST SURVEY, SHOWING THE PROGRESS OF THE SURVEY DURING THE YEAR 1856. IT GIVES THE MAJOR AND SECONDARY TRIANGULATION LINES FOR THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AND ITS RIVERS THAT HAD BEEN ACCOMPLISHED TO DATE. IT ALSO SHOWS BY DOTTED LINES THE AERIAL EXTENT OF MORE DETAILED TOPOGRAPHIC AND HYDROGRAPHIC SHEETS, WHICH WERE DONE IN MANUSCRIPT BUT NOT ISSUED TO THE PUBLIC, WITH THEIR NUMBERS AND DATES OF EXECUTION. THE SKETCH GIVES ASTRONOMICAL, MAGNETIC, TIDAL AND CURRENT STATIONS IN USE.

AS OF THE END OF 1856, THE PRIMARY TRIANGULATION WAS COMPLETED AND THE SECONDARY TRIANGULATION WAS LARGELY COMPLETE. THE SECONDARY TRIANGULATION OF THE JAMES RIVER TO ITS MOUTH WAS NEARLY DONE AND THAT OF THE YORK WAS DONE FROM ITS MOUTH TO PURTAN ISLAND. THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK WAS COMPLETED TO NEAR TAPPAHANNOCK AND THAT OF THE BAY ADJACENT TO THE MOUTHS OF THE POTOMAC AND RAPPAHANNOCK WAS EXECUTED. THE SEACOAST TOPOGRAPHY HAD BEEN EXTENDED TO ASSATEAGUE ISLAND FROM ASSOWAN INLET. VERIFICATION WORK WAS DONE ON THE EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND, NEAR THE ELK RIVER. THE HYDROGRAPHY OF THE APPROACHES TO THE CHESAPEAKE AND OF TANGIER SOUND WAS COMPLETE, THAT OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK HAD BEEN DONE TO PUNCH BOWL AND THAT OF THE JAMES RIVER FROM HOG ISLAND TO CHICKAHOMINY RIVER.

DURING THE YEAR, TWO PARTIES WERE ENGAGED IN SECONDARY TRIANGULATION, FOUR IN TOPOGRAPHY, TWO IN HYDROGRAPHY, ONE IN HYDROGRAPHIC RECONNAISSANCE AND ONE IN MAGNETIC OBSERVATIONS.

A FINISHED CHART OF PATAPSCO RIVER (ON A SCALE OF 1/60,000) WAS DRAWN AS WAS THAT OF SHEET 2 OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY. A CHART OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER (SHEETS 1,2,3, AND 4 - ON A SCALE OF 1/20,000) AND THE JAMES RIVER FROM RICHMOND TO CITY POINT WERE IN PROGRESS. THE FOLLOWING CHARTS HAD BEEN ENGRAVED: SEACOAST OF VIRGINIA AND ENTRANCE TO CHESAPEAKE BAY; DELAWARE AND CHESAPEAKE BAYS (PRELIMINARY ON A SCALE OF 1/400,000), AND JAMES RIVER (PRELIMINARY ON A SCALE OF 1/40,000). THE ENGRAVING OF THE FOLLOWING CHARTS WAS IN PROGRESS AT THE END OF THE YEAR: CHESAPEAKE BAY (SHEETS 1 AND 2 ON A SCALE OF 1/80,000); PATAPSCO RIVER (1/60,000); AND RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER (SHEETS 3 AND 4 ON A SCALE OF 1/20,000).

DATA IS FROM THE 1856 USCS ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS AND FROM OBSERVATION OF THE COPY IN THE HUNTINGFIELD COLLECTION.

EDITION & STATE INFO : INFORMAL REPORTS WERE MADE ANNUALLY BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE COAST SURVEY FROM 1816 THROUGH 1850. THESE WERE PUBLISHED BY THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT AND WERE SENT TO CONGRESS. BEGINNING WITH 1851, THESE PROGRESS REPORTS BECAME MORE FORMAL. THEY WERE PRODUCED IN MUCH LARGER QUANTITY AND WERE MORE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED TO SCHOOLS AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS AND INDIVIDUALS IN ADDITION TO CONGRESS. THE U.S. COAST SURVEY BECAME THE PUBLISHER BEGINNING IN 1851. THE WIDER DISSEMINATION WAS AN ATTEMPT BY THE AGENCY TO BUILD A WIDER BASE OF SUPPORT FOR THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COAST SURVEY. BEGINNING IN 1844, THESE REPORTS DESCRIBED IN CONSIDERABLE DETAIL THE PROGRESS OF THE SURVEY INCLUDING IN SECTION III, WHICH PRIMARILY CONSISTED OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AND THE OCEAN FRONT OF DELAWARE, MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA. ANNUAL PROGRESS SKETCHES WERE APPENDED, SHOWING THE EXTENT OF THE TRIANGULATION, TOPOGRAPHY, HYDROGRAPHY AND OTHER WORK ACCOMPLISHED UP TO THAT TIME.

HFC OWNERSHIP DATA : THE HUNTINGFIELD COLLECTION HAS A PHOTOREPRODUCTION OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS COPY REPRODUCED AT 80% OF ORIGINAL SIZE. IT HAS A MDHR # OF MSA SC1399-405 (REPRO).

BIBLIGRAPHICAL REFS. : U.S. COAST SURVEY, REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE COAST SURVEY, SHOWING THE PROGRESS OF THE SURVEY DURING THE YEAR 1856, H.R. EX. DOC. NO. 18, 34th CONGRESS, 3rd SESSION, WASHINGTON: U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1856, 9, 21, 25, 45-49, 94-5, 143, 148-9, 153, 157-8, 162.

December 7, 1991


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