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 large and highly detailed chart extends from Cape Cod south to Nantucket. It features a plethora of depth soundings, bottom types, shoals, lighthouses, and more. There is fine topographical detail inland, including the street-grid pattern of Chatham and Nantucket. Supplementing the chart are two views of Nantucket's coast, a key to the abbreviations used on the chart, tables on the tides, currents, and lighthouses and beacons, and other relevant information. Engraved by A. Sengteller, G. McCoy, W. Phillips, and E.A. Maedel.

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Condition: B

Issued folding and now flattened and backed with tissue to reinforce and repair several small fold separations. There is light toning along the fold lines.