Catalog Archive
Auction 145, Lot 252

"Preliminary Chart of Savannah River Georgia…", U.S. Coast Survey

Subject: Savannah, Georgia

Period: 1855 (dated)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
32.8 x 19.7 inches
83.3 x 50 cm
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The Office of Coast Survey is the oldest U.S. scientific organization, dating from 1807 when Congress directed that a "survey of the coast" be carried out. By 1836, it was called the U.S. Coast Survey and in 1878, the name was changed to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Today the Office of Coast Survey is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA.

The survey teams, composed of civilians as well as Army and Naval officers, charted the nation's waterways and produced a wide array of reports, survey charts, hydrographic studies of tides and currents, astronomical studies and observations, and coastal pilots. These charts are an important record of the changing nature of the nation's coastlines. In additional to coastal charts, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey produced land sketches, Civil War battle maps, and the early aeronautical charts.

This survey shows the Savannah River from the city of Savannah to the Atlantic Ocean. Several islands in the river are named including Hutchinson’s Island, Elba, Jones and Cockspur. Complex soundings fill the chart with an inset showing the continuation of the river to Argyle Island. Produced under the direction of A.D. Bache.

References:

Condition: B

Issued folding and now flattened and backed with tissue to reinforce and repair numerous small fold separations, holes at fold intersections, a 1.5" edge tear at left, and small chips in right-hand corners with a tiny amount of border in facsimile.

Estimate: $200 - $250

Sold for: $135

Closed on 6/12/2013

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