The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-07-06
Office for the information and guidance

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Office for. the information and guidance
of deep-sea mariners.
Several Of the other leading mari
time nations of the world maintains
photographic offices Of more or less
and the work done by
these 10 In some respects similarto that
performed by the United Sfates hydro
graphic office. But the work accom-
plished by all Of them together, it lis
commended, is nothing like so compres.
hensive and valuable as that which
is quietly and unostentatiously done by
this suboffice of one of the United
States naval bureaus. This is amply
shown by the willingness, and even
eagerness with which the merchant
shippers of the other great maritime
countries, especially those Of England,
devote their time and skill to the sup
fermentation of the United States n.y.
geographic Offices work, while many
of them decline to do any sort of sim
liar work to assist the ocean charting
bureaus of the lands under whose flags
they sail the seas. For the services
which they render the photographic Of
flee the shippers of the worlds mer-
chant marine get value received in the
form Of the free issue to them of pub
locations relating to storms, currents,
tides and derelictst Upon these mat
ters the photographic office of no other
country makes any attempt to dis
seminate constantly revised informa-
ton which navigators have found dur
sv,er 10 fa ind
pensable.
The United States photographic office
issues every month a pilot chart Of the
two great oceans, showing the posi-
tons of derelicts and icebergs. Eng
land, the leading maritime country of
the world, furnishes such information
to its mariners only in the form Of
bulletins, which give the latitude and
longitude Of the distractions to navi-
cation. The photographic office here
issues such a bulletin every week, but
it's most important work in this direc-
ton is in the form of the two charts,
one Of the Atlantic and the other of the
Pacific. a glance at which, as they are
Spread out on the navigator's table,
tells him the position, with almost in
fallible exactitIde, of the distractions
on the highwayaof the, deep which he is
likely to encounter on his course.
The master Of sailing vessel weigh
ing anchor from San Francisco for Yo-
kohama, can by reference to the hydro
graphic Offices chart of the North Pa
cific so shape his course as to keep out
of the way of an abandoned ship which
| the chart informs him had been report
| ed on a certain date in a certain posi-
| tion moving in a certain direction with
| a certain current. If the skipper does
not deem it necessary to alter his course
to avoid such an obstruction, he at Least
| doubles the lookout to keep a sharp
watch fer it when his ship approaches
the latitude and longitude indicated on
the chart. The chart for the Atlantic
Ocean has been issued every month for
the past fifteen years. while that fer
| the Pacific has only been published dur
/ ing the past four years. The charted
positions Of derelicts and icebergs as
given on these maps of the sea have
so often been verified by the command
ers of ships that the shippers Of all ma
lions have come to regard the charts
as almost infallible.
| 1t is entirely through the willing CO.
geographic office is enabled to collect
the data necessary for the making UP
of these valuable charts. There is prob
bly, no single office under the govern
mept that has 80 many voluntary
agents as the United States Hydro
graphic Office. It's daily mail consists
in great part of hundreds of letters
from every corner of the world, con-
tanning information from shipmasters
not only with reference to derelicts and
icebergs, but to unrnapped currents, un-
usual tides, waterspouts and SO on.
The branch photographic offices,
which the bureau Of navigation has es-
tablished at all of the country's lead
ing ports. issue to their shippers on their
departure on long deep sea voyages
blanks for the jotting down of this in
formation and the shipHasters are few
who do not as religiously fill out these
blanks with the data called for as they
write their daily logs. There is an es-.
pecial blank for the noting Of the posi-
tons Of derelicts, together with the
general trend of the currents in which
the distractions are found to be drift
ing when the observations are made.
There is, besides, an especial blank for
observations on icebergs encountered.
These are filed out by the shippers and
forwarded to the photographic Office as
soon as the ships get into port.
Most of the shippers do not confine
themselves to the mere filing out of the
blanks, but send in quite elaborate ac-
counts in addition of the unusual things
which they have happened upon in the
course of their voyages. When it is
considered that the majority of sailors,
fore and aft, masters and men, have
curiously intense aversion to the use of
pen and ink, the zeal of these shipmas-
tiers will be the better appreciated. the
documents sent in by good many of
them are not notable for elegant die
ton or fiuency of style, but they always
contain solid facts plenty.-New York
Sun.
Well Lost.