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The Coast Survey and the Office of Weights and Measures were invented
by Ferdinand Hassler. What allowed this invention to grow and prosper were
the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his successor, Martin Van
Buren. Helping nurture the Survey, although Hassler probably would have
had a hard time admitting it, was the continued management of the Treasury
Department by Levi Woodbury. Woodbury, in truth, was a friend of the Survey
and American science. Without his enlightened tolerance of Hassler's rougher
edges, the Coast Survey would have dissolved in an administrative morass.
In fact, the four years of the Van Buren administration, 1837-1841, could
be called Hassler's golden years. There seem to have been no energy-consuming
squabbles, and the Coast Survey grew from an appropriation of $20,000 in
1832 to $100,000 in 1840 and 1841.
During these years, the work grew from a small operation, with a nucleus
of Hassler and a few military and civilian assistants, to an organization
consisting of numerous land field parties, five operating vessels, an instrument
shop engaged in both standards and Coast Survey work, an engraving group,
the beginnings of a printing facility, and even a clerk to attend to the
day-to-day administrative duties.
The order of the field work under Hassler was generally: 1) reconnaissance
for primary triangulation; 2) base line measurement; 3) primary triangulation
including astronomic observations for latitude, longitude, and azimuth
when possible; 4) secondary triangulation; 5) plane table mapping; 6) sounding
operations; and 7) measurement of a new baseline at the termination of
a section of primary triangulation allowing the verification and closing
out of all previous work in the section between baselines.
The reconnaissance for, and conducting of, primary triangulation was
done by Hassler himself, as he trusted no one else to conduct this critical
work on which all else depended. The reconnaissance was done in late fall
or early spring "for the naked woods will admit many views hidden in the
summer by the branches and leaves, which may be afterwards cleared away
for the work of actual triangulation...." There were no topographic maps
or helicopters to help determine appropriate locations for these signals.
Obtaining "this geometrical view of a country" was done with great difficulty
and required "great attention and a kind of geometric eye,"(1)
or, as would be said today, "a feel for the work." These stations were
generally placed well inland and followed high ridges to assure developing
lines of sight of twenty to forty miles between primary stations.
Once stations were selected, permanent monuments were placed at the
station site and temporary signals erected to facilitate a distant observer
making angle measurements between signals. By 1836, Hassler had changed
with the times and acknowledged that Karl Gauss's heliotropes were superior
to his tin-covered cones for reflecting the sun's rays at far distant stations.
These instruments required "a man of some intelligence to attend to them,
and to replace them [move] about every four minutes, according to the motion
of the sun .... They will show a precise luminous point, even though the
haze so frequent on our eastern sea shore, when the outline of the hill
itself, upon which they stand, cannot be traced. It is probable to me that,
without them, almost no distant triangulation would be possible on the
farther eastern shores, without a very great loss of time."(2)
Because all observations on the primary triangulation were conducted
by Hassler himself, the secondary triangulation surged ahead of the primary
within a few years as Hassler became consumed with the myriad other details
of the work. Another factor causing Hassler to lag behind was that the
24-inch theodolite, used by him on primary triangulation, had been damaged
during the years prior to Hassler's reinstatement as head of the Survey.
Although not unusable, cumbersome and time-consuming precautions had to
be taken to assure that it was reading properly. Hassler ordered a new,
larger instrument in 1833; this thirty-inch diameter theodolite did not
arrive in the United States until late 1836.
The secondary triangulation crews were headed by James Ferguson and
Edmund Blunt, who had been hired in early 1833. (Lieutenant John Dahlgren
headed a secondary triangulation party for a short time in 1837.) Their
job was to tie into the primary stations and establish a series of stations
at ten-mile and lesser intervals for use by the plane table mapping parties,
tertiary triangulation parties, and sounding crews. The secondary triangulation
operations were not significantly different from the primary work. The
basic difference was that there were shorter lines, more set-ups, and less
accurate instruments being used in the secondary work; all leading to slightly
less accurate results. The lesser accuracy was offset by having the work
bracketed by higher accuracy primary work. Procedures and computations
were similar.
Working right behind the secondary triangulation crews were the plane
table crews. The plane table had been introduced to the United States by
Hassler, and his first plane table crew was headed by a Swiss emigrant,
Charles Renard. Renard began work along the shores of Great South Bay in
the fall of 1834, surveying in signals, and developing shoreline for Lt.
Thomas Gedney on the JERSEY. The following year, C. M. Eakin, a former
Army Topographic Engineer, was made head of a second party supporting the
work of Lieutenant George S. Blake on the EXPERIMENT. These men in turn
trained others, including many naval officers, to take over as heads of
parties in their turn. By the end of 1838, there were 10 plane table parties
operating in the field.
Life on the field parties of the early Survey involved "roughing it";
living in tent camps or staying at the occasional inn or hotel when engaged
in triangulation or plane table work and living on the small ships when
engaged in hydrographic work. RADM Benjamin F. Sands, who spent fifteen
years on the Survey, was assigned to various hydrographic, plane table,
and triangulation parties from 1835 to 1842 and left an account of his
life in the field.(3) (4)
Passed Midshipman Sands was assigned to the U.S. Coast Survey Schooner
JERSEY in May, 1835, and began his work as an observer on a shore camp
turning angles to the sounding boats. Although there were six men engaged
in the turning of angles, two at each site, they all slept at a main base
camp in the same tent. The bed was communal, consisting of a tarp spread
over straw, with each man sleeping "all standing", i.e., with his clothes
on and putting on an overcoat as an additional blanket whenever the weather
turned cool. Lt. George S. Blake was sent to this party for training prior
to assuming command of the EXPERIMENT. With Blake in camp, the sleeping
tent became quite crowded and "spooning" was resorted to. Sands "was directed
to stow next to him, and as it was impossible without great discomfort,
for a single individual to reverse his position, a spirit of fairness led
us to adopt a rule that all should turn over at the same time..." As Sands
was the most junior member of the party, it was his job to call out "spoon"
whenever anyone became tired of their position. Sands reports that, "This
was done once or twice in the early part of the first night for practice,
and to try the humor of the grave and reverend signor, the Lieutenant;
but he took it all in good part, seemingly enjoying the lark...."
Life was not that bad though; while at Great South Bay the shore crews
feasted on fresh mussels and blue point oysters on a regular basis. As
the work progressed, camp was shifted westerly along the Long Island coast
and thence the shore parties moved to Sandy Hook. It was during 1835 that
the New Channel, or as it became known, Gedney Channel, was discovered
at the entrance to New York Harbor. After the close of field work and the
ship was secured for the winter, many of the officers would report to the
Coast Survey office in Washington, D.C., and engage in reducing soundings,
plotting angles, producing a smooth survey sheet, and preparing field sheets
for the next season's work.
In 1836, the JERSEY was still conducting sounding operations in the
New York area and Sands' tent was pitched on the beach at the point of
Sandy Hook "where the observers of angles lived the lives of Arabs; whilst
those who were engaged in taking the soundings lived on board of the schooner."
In mid-May after a long spell of cold and squally weather which precluded
work by the sounding boats, a ship's "longboat made its way inside of Sandy
Hook under the charge of the carpenter of a brig that had been wrecked
on the south side of Long Island. The boat was laden with the disabled
portion of her crew, some half a dozen men, sick with scurvy and almost
helpless.... Those of the men most sick it was difficult to remove from
the boat, one of them having the skin and flesh peeling from his limbs."
As Sands' camp had insufficient provisions for these men, he rigged the
boat with a sail and attempted to reach the JERSEY at Staten Island; but,
instead, had to stop at an anchored vessel as the wind and tide shifted.
The next day a pilot boat towed him to the JERSEY and took the sick men
to the proper authorities. Sands was only too happy to find the JERSEY
at anchor off Tompkinsville wharf where he joined his shipmates "in a hearty
and truly welcome meal, contented with my share in the relief of the shipwrecked
men." He was then able to stay comfortably on the ship as "camp life is
not the pleasantest in wet easterly weather." This was the first, but certainly
not the last time, that a Coast Survey party would aid mariners in distress.
In 1837, Sands was attached to the plane table party of Charles Renard
and worked at a number of locations around New York. This was quite convenient
as Sands had recently married and left his wife in Brooklyn where he visited
her every Saturday night. The crew under Renard "were all Swiss or French,
even the cook. I had to rub up my French, also to my great improvement...."
In turn, Sands helped Renard with his English, as since his landing in
1834, he was unable to converse in anything but French.
By 1839, Sands had his own plane table party and was proceeding down the New Jersey coast taking Mrs. Sands, their new baby, and a maid with them. As Mrs. Sands had never camped out, the first night on the job was spent in a nearby tavern, "the room assigned to us being over the kitchen oven. After a sleepless night for ourselves and a most fretful one for our poor babe, we arose at daylight to see armies of bedbugs traveling up the partitions which separated us from the other rooms .... The next day I kept all hands in camp preparing tents for my little family..."
Moving day was quite an occasion for the rural natives of the New Jersey coast. The encampments were ten to twelve miles apart with the survey work filling up all the detail between the coastline and the post road a few miles back. The work would progress from a few miles north to five or so miles south before proceeding on; thus, "creating as we moved, quite a sensation amongst the natives by reason of our caravan, which was necessarily quite extensive.... The cry would be raised among the natives, 'Here come the sarwayers, with the capting and his 'oman leading.'"
Sands' experience was the norm on these survey crews, traveling as they
did in a rural America in which the Coast Survey was the first introduction
to science. When the weather became too inclement for continued operations,
the field crews would disband for the winter and many of the naval officers
and civilian assistants would proceed to Washington, D.C., to work on the
computations and drafting associated with the year's work.
In the early years, Hassler's home was his office; or, if traveling,
his carriage. All drafting, computations, report writing, and instrument
design and manufacture seemed to have been done as a Hassler "cottage industry."
As the functions of the Survey grew and the work of Weights and Measures
continued, the office expanded. By the time of Hassler's death, his office
had become his home, at least while on duty in the Washington, D.C., area.
By that, the Government had rented three adjacent houses and also the foundry
establishment which was across the street. In early 1842, Hassler wrote
that the three houses interconnected; and, that in each one, at least two
persons would sleep including assistants, clerk, workmen, and himself.(5)
Hassler's office and home in this triad was "the last house, right hand
side of New Jersey Avenue upon Capitol Hill."
By 1839 the calculations were becoming more complex as Hassler was placing
all the triangulation into one systematic body. All calculations were executed
three times as a check and double-check. By this time he had instituted
the policy of reducing all work to a common set of small-scale index maps
for ease of planning. He was preparing to complete the final execution
of the drawings of topographic and hydrographic sheets from the coast of
New Jersey to Rhode Island and had just received a shipment of high-grade
drawing paper. He did not yet have engravers and had just ordered copperplates
of Hungarian copper from Vienna, supposedly the best engraving plates in
the world.
By the end of 1841, the office had grown to an establishment with twelve
drafting tables, 9 writing tables and desks, and five bookcases in which,
"There belongs to the coast survey a library of a few hundred volumes of
valuable mathematical and astronomical works, a number of which are very
rare; all classical in their kind."(6) (It
would seem that Amos Kendall, or perhaps a successor, ultimately allowed
the sale of Hassler's technical library to the Coast Survey.) Surveys were
in such an advanced state by this time that Hassler hired two German engravers
to begin the process of preparing the copper plates for printing. The instrument
shop, which was located in the same building as the Coast Survey office,
had also grown. There were now two full-time mechanicians (his son, Edward
Troughton Hassler, and William Wurdemann) who were employed using various
sized lathes and other tools to produce finely machined standards of weights
and measures as well as new and reworked instruments for the Survey.
In 1842, two major items of capital equipment were delivered to the
Coast Survey: the long-awaited dividing engine and a copper-plate printing
press. The dividing engine had been ordered in 1832 from the shop of Edward
Troughton, the master instrument maker who had produced many of the early
Coast Survey instruments at Hassler's direction. Troughton died during
the production of this instrument and the work passed to his partner, Mr.
Simms. The engine was used in dividing circular instruments into ever finer
angular divisions and was particularly valuable in the production of theodolites.
When it arrived in the United States, it was the finest machine tool in
the western hemisphere. To give an idea of the accuracy of this instrument,
it was at least capable of discerning one second of arc, better than the
one millionth part of a circle. Hassler pointed out: "The engine is unique
in its kind in this country, and of great value even for the general progress
of the art of the mechanicians in this country, besides the services the
coast survey will derive from it." (7)
The engraving process was proceeding ahead in 1842 in response to "a
great desire having been manifested that the engraving and printing of
the map of New York might be accelerated." Two skilled American engravers
from Philadelphia joined the previously hired Germans, and the engraving
was divided into various functions such that a plate would be worked on
in assembly line fashion. In the engraving process, one engraver might
put on all lettering, another all numbers, another specific topographic
features, etc., until a plate was completed. Testing of the new copper-plate
printing press was going ahead with the making of intermediate chart proof-sheets.
This operation required "just as much the constant attention, and the eye,
of the superintendent, as any other part of the works of the survey itself....
and much attention and time are required to procure the various materials
, as copper plates, paper, and others, of that superior quality which can
alone be considered satisfactory for a work of the character which the
coast survey shall, also in its outward appearance, present to the public."(8)
Although peripheral to the history of the Coast Survey, Sands described
an incident in the winter of 1839-1840 that almost changed the course of
United States naval history. Processing of survey records and the work
of "stretching paper [to stabilize and reduce shrinkage], making projections,
and putting in the points for the summer triangulation work"(9)
could be quite tedious, particularly for young men with a high degree of
energy. One afternoon, David Dixon Porter, who distinguished himself in
many combat actions during the Civil War and went on to become the highest
ranking officer in the Navy following the war, became bored with his work
and was amusing himself by sticking a pair of dividers into a drafting
table. The table that he was operating on was occupied by Lieutenant Stephen
C. Rowan, destined also to distinguish himself in the Civil War and attain
high rank. Rowan was engaged in difficult work upon a chart and "accosted
him [Porter] in sharp and impatient tones, calling on him to put the instrument
down..." Porter ignored Rowan's request; and, in a short time, the men
were fighting. They were separated; but, as honor had been offended, there
was a strong possibility that a duel would ensue. Following the custom
of the time, Porter came to Sands and asked him to represent him as a "second."
Sands obliged him and negotiated a diplomatic solution to the problem with
Rowan's "second", precluding the possibility of bloodshed over such a trivial
incident.
As a sequel to the drafting table incident, many years later then Admiral Porter related to his friend Sands that he had recently been confronted with having to recommend to President Grant a Vice-Admiral of the Navy from among the qualified Rear Admirals. The two most qualified were Rowan and John Rodgers, Rowan being the senior officer. Porter felt they were equally qualified; but he chose Rowan, because he did not want it said that he had used his influence in Rodger's "favor from ill-feeling towards the one who is the senior, and this I would not have them [his fellow officers who were cognizant of the incident] think me capable of doing!"(10)
1. Hassler, F. R. 1825. Papers.... p. 387.
2. Hassler, F. R. 1837. "The report of F. R. Hassler, superintendent of the coast survey....", Senate Ex. Doc. 79, 25th Congress, 2nd Session, December 12, 1837. p. 3.
3. All who have an interest in surveying and mapping are indebted to Benjamin F. Sands as his account of life on an early field party under Hassler is the only surviving account of this era of which the author is aware. Sands was a man who loved the field life on the Survey.
4. Sands, B. F. 1899. Chapters 9 to 16.
5. Letter from Hassler to the Honorable Francis Mallory, Chairman of the Select Committee of Investigation of the Coast Survey, sent from Washington City on March 23, 1842. In: Reports of Committees, 27th Congress, 3rd Session, Report No. 43, House of Representatives, January 12, 1843. p. 44. This description of the working and living arrangements at Coast Survey Headquarters was included in Points 4 and 7.
6. Hassler, F. R. 1842. House of Representatives Document No. 28, 27th Congress, 2d Session. Volume II. January 3, 1842. p. 18.
7. Hassler, F. R. 1842. A report from the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, and of the Fabrication of Standard Weights and Measures. Senate Report 11, 27th Congress, 3rd Session, December 20, 1842. p.4.
8. Hassler, F. R. 1842. Report of F.R. Hassler.... Senate Document 11, 27th Congress, 3rd Session. December 20, 1842. p. 3.
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