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.

1) General Chart of the Coast No. X Straits of Florida, 1868 (40.5 x 31.5"). Chart centered on the southern tip of Florida; from Key Biscayne and the Miami River in the north to Dry Tortuga in the west, Havana to the south and the Bahama Bank in the east. Details include a table of lighthouses, tides, remarks, soundings.

2) Atlantic Coast of the United States… Sheet No. IV Mosquito Inlet to Key West, 1863 (27 x 24"). Detailed map of the southern tip of Florida, the Florida Keys, and the Bahamas. The map includes soundings, notes and sailing directions and extends to include a bit of the northern part of Cuba and Havana.

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Condition: C+

Lightly toned on folds with some fold separations, some with archival tape repairs. #2 has a small paper loss on a fold intersection.