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 lot features two U.S. Coast Survey charts of Nantucket Shoals, published ten years apart. They include soundings, bottom types, lighthouses, shoals, notes on tides and currents, and other navigational details.

A. (A No. 11) Preliminary Chart of Nantucket Shoals Massachusetts by the Hydrographic Parties..., dated 1854 (19.4 x 17.2"). Condition: There is a binding trim at lower left that has been replaced with a portion of the neatline drawn in facsimile. (A)

B. Preliminary Chart of Nantucket Shoals from a Trigonometrical Survey..., dated 1864 (19.3 x 23.3"). Condition: Backed with tissue to reinforce and repair a few tiny splits at fold intersections with a tiny amount of image loss. Faint toning along the left vertical fold. (B+)

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Condition:

Clean, bright examples that have been flattened and backed with tissue. See description above for additional details.