United States Hydrographic Office Manuscript Charts in the National Archives 1838-1908 Compiled by William J. Heynen National Archives and Records Service General Services Administration Washington: 1978 Special Ust 43 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data United States. National Archives and Records Service. United States Hydrographic Office manuscript charts in the National Archives, 1838-1908. (Special list - National Archives and Records Service; 43) Includes indexes. Supt. of Docs. no.: GS 4.7:43 1. United States. Hydrographic Office--Archives. 2. Nautical charts--United States--Bibliography-­ Catalogs. 3. United States. National Archives and Records Service. I. Heynen, William J. II. Title. III. Series: United States. National Archives and Records Service. Special list; 43. CD3034.H9U54 1978 016.353008'775 78-606193 Foreword The General Services Administration, through the National Archives and Records Service, is responsible for administering the permanently valuable noncurrent records of the Federal Government. These archival holdings, now amounting to more than 1 million cubic feet, date from the days of the First Continental Congress and consist of the basic records of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of our Government. The Presidential libraries of Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson contain the papers of those Presidents and of many of their associates in office. These research resources document significant events in our Nation's history, but most of them are preserved because of their continuing practical use in the ordinary processes of government, for the protection of private rights, and for the research use of scholars and students. To facilitate the use of these materials our archivists prepare various kinds of finding aids that describe their nature and content. The present work is one such publication. We believe that it will be of value to anyone who wishes to use the records it describes. ( iii Preface Special lists are published by the National Archives and Records Service (NARS) as part of its records description program. The special list describes in detail the contents of certain important records series; that is, units of records of the same form or that deal with the same subject or activity or that are arranged serially. Its form and style are not fixed but vary according to the nature of the records to which it relates. Its distinguishing characteristic is that it goes beyond the general description contained in a record group registration statement, a preliminary inventory, or an inventory and describes records in terms of individual record items. In addition to lists and other finding aids that relate to particular record groups, NARS issues publications that give an overall picture of materials in its custody. A new, comprehensive Guide to the National Archives of the United States and a revised and expanded Guide to Materials on Latin America in the National Archives of the United States were published in 1974. Reference information papers analyze records in the National Archives of the United States (hereafter called the Archives) on such subjects as transportation, small business, and the Middle East. Records of the Civil War are described in Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War (1962), Guide to the Archives of the Government of the Confederate States of America 1968), and Civil War Maps in the National Archives (1964); those of World War I in Handbook of Federal World War Agencies and Their Records, 1917-1921 (1943); and those of World War II in the two-volume guide Federal Records of World War II (1950-51). Genealogical records are described in Guide to Genealogical Records in the National Archives ( 1964). In the Archives are large quantities of audiovisual materials received from all sources: Government, private, and commercial. The Guide to the Ford Film Collection in the National Archives ( 1970) describes one of the largest private gift collections. The extensive body of maps and charts is described in the Guide to Cartographic Records in the National Archives (1971). Many bodies of records of high research value have been microfilmed by NARS as a form of publication. Positive prints of these microfilm publications, many of which are described in the current Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications, are available for purchase. For other publications, see the most r~cent Select List of Publications of the National Archives and Records Service, General Information Leaflet No. 3. JAMES B. RHOADS Archivist of the United States Contents Page Introduction 1 World s Ship Tracks 6 Atlantic Ocean 7 Ship Tracks 9 Azores 11 Fayal Island 11 Sao Miguel Island 11 Bermuda ...... 11 Canary Island~ 11 Other Islands and Shoals 12 Pacific Ocean . 12 Ship Tracks . 16 Bonin, Volcano, and Adjacent Islands 17 Caroline Islands . 20 Clipperton Island 21 Easter Island 21 Ellice Islands 21 Gilbert Islands 22 Guam ..... 23 San Luis D' Apr a Harbor 24 Other Harbors 26 Hawaiian Islands 26 Hawaii Island 27 Maui Island 28 Molokini Island 29 Molokai Island 29 Oahu Island . 30 Honolulu .. 30 Pearl Harbor . 32 Other Harbors and Bays . 34 Kauai Island . 35 Necker Island . 36 French Frigate Shoals 36 Maro Reef .. 36 Laysan Island ... 36 llsianski Island 36 Pearl and Hermes Reef 37 Kure Island . 37 Howland and Baker Islands 37 Johnston Island ...... 37 vii viii CONTENTS Page line Islands .. 38 Marcus Island . 38 Mariana Islands 38 Marshall Islands ..... 39 Ratak (Radak) Chain 39 Ralik (Ralick) Chain 40 Midway Islands ... 40 New Caledonia Island 41 New Hebrides Islands 41 Phoenix Islands . 41 Samoa ...... 42 Western Samoa . 42 American Samoa 42 Santa Cruz Islands 43 Society Islands . 43 Tokelau Islands (Union Group) 44 Tonga ............ 44 Tuamotu (Paumotu) Archipelago 44 Wallis and Futuna Group 45 Other Islands and Shoals 45 Indian Ocean . 46 Seychelles . 46 Heard Island 46 North America . 47 Alaska .... 47 Southwest Alaska 47 Track Charts of Naval Patrol Fleet in the Bering Sea . 51 South-Central Alaska 53 Southeast Alaska . 53 Canada ........ 57 East Coast ..... 57 St. Lawrence River and the Canadian Shore of the Great Lakes 58 West Coast ............. 59 United States . 60 Great Lakes (except Canadian Shore) 60 Lake Ontario 61 Lake Erie ... 61 Lake Huron .. 62 Lake Michigan 63 Lake Superior 65 East Coast ... 66 GulfCoast ... 69 Mississippi and Ohio Rivers 71 West Coast ....... 72 Mexico and Central America 74 Mexico, East Coast . 75 Mexico, West Coast 77 Baja California, West Coast 80 CONTENTS ix Page Baja California, East Coast . 86 Gulf of California, Eastern Shore 89 Cape Corrientes to Guatemala 91 Guatemala, East Coast 96 Guatemala, West Coast . 96 Honduras, East Coast . 96 Honduras and El Salvador, West Coast 97 Nicaragua, East Coast . 98 Nicaragua, West Coast . 99 Nicaragua, Canal Surveys 100 Costa Rica, East Coast . 102 Costa Rica, West Coast . 103 Panama ..... 104 Atlantic Coast 104 Pacific Coast . 107 Panama Canal Zone 107 Atlantic Coast 108 Pacific Coast . 109 Darien Canal Surveys, Panama and Colombia 109 San Blas to Chepo River, Central America 110 Caledonia Harbor to San Miguel Bay, Eastern Panama 111 Tuira (Tuyra) River, Panama, and Northern Atrato River, Colombia 111 Napipi and Southern Atrato Rivers, Colombia . 113 Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico 115 Bahama Islands 116 Cuba, North Coast . 116 Cuba, South Coast . 121 Jamaica . 126 Hispaniola . 127 Haiti ....... 127 Dominican Republic 129 Puerto Rico . 133 Culebra Island 134 Virgin Islands . 134 St. Thomas Island . 134 St. Croix Island 134 St. John Island 135 Lesser Antilles 135 South America . 136 Colombia, Atlantic Coast 136 Savanilla and Magdalena River . 136 Venezuela and Guyana (British Guiana) 136 Surinam (Dutch Guiana) 139 Brazil ..... 139 Amazon Basin 141 Uruguay .... 142 Argentina ... 143 Tributaries of Rio de la Plata 145 Uruguay River . 146 X CONTENTS Page Parana River . 146 Paraguay River 147 Falkland Islands . 147 Colombia, Pacific Coast 147 Ecuador ...... 147 Galapagos Islands 147 Peru . 148 Chile 148 Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean 150 Africa 154 Asia . 157 Pakistan and India 157 Siberia, East Coast 157 Japan ...... 159 Hokkaido and Tsugaru Strait 160 Honshu, East Coast 162 Honshu, West Coast ... 164 Inland Sea ........ 165 Southern Kyushu and Adjacent Islands 166 Ryukyu Islands 168 Korea ............... 171 China ................ 174 Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands 181 Philippines . 181 Batan Islands (Batanes) 181 Luzon ........ 182 Mindoro and Lubang Islands 191 Marinduque Island . 191 Burias Island . 191 Masbate Island and Vicinity 192 Romblon Island 192 Samar Island 192 Leyte Island . 193 Panay Island . 193 Negros Island 194 Cebu Island 195 Bohol Island . 195 Mindanao 195 Sulu Archipelago 200 Palawan and Adjacent Islands 202 Southeast Asia and East Indies 204 Australia and New Zealand 205 Arctic Region . 206 Canadian Arctic and Greenland 207 Northern Alaska and Adjacent Parts of Canada 209 Russian Arctic . 212 CONTENTS xi Page Miscellaneous ....................................................... 214 Index to Charts From U.S. Navy Expeditions to the Pacific, 1838-59 ....................... 221 Index to Landscape Views and Other lliustrations . 225 Ship Index ......................................................... 227 General Index . 231 ILLUSTRATIONS: Part of track chart of the U.S.S. Richmond, 1872 (entry 25) ............................ 21 5 Landscape views or proflles of the coast near La Paz, Mexico (entry 720) . 216 Survey of Acapulco, Mexico, by the U.S.S. Tuscarora, 1878 (entry 870) ..................... 217 Map of the Isthmus of Panama showing the proposed canal, 1875 (entry 1023) ................. 218 Chart of Liberia's coast showing area of operations of the U.S. Africa Squadron under Commodore M. C. Perry, 1843-44 (entry 1 505) . 219 Introduction The Hydrographic Office of the U.S. Navy was one of three agencies of the Federal Government engaged in hydrographic surveying and charting. The other two agencies were the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (currently the National Ocean Survey), which prepared charts of the coasts of the United States and its possessions, and the U.S.