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 detailed chart locates Sandy Hook, Raritan Bay, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan & the New Jersey shore along the Hudson River. It is filled with navigational details including hundreds of depth soundings, channels, shoals, ground types, and much more. The chart features remarkable inland detail as well, including city streets, roads and railroads, vegetation, and even individual buildings. Flanking the chart are navigational notes on lighthouses, light vessels, buoys, tides, and more. There are two approach views at bottom and a seller's stamp for R. Merrill's Sons, Nautical Instrument Manufacturers, at top.

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Condition: B

On a lightly toned sheet with some minor creasing and several edge tears, two of which just enter the image at top. There is light soiling at bottom and a few minor stains in the margins.