Evening star., 1927-11-20
BY COMDR. n. HI. HECK,
u. s. Coast and Geoditic Survey.

If you were going to plan a garden
in your back yard, you wouldn't wor.
ry because the garden lay on a curved
surface-the surface of the earth. But
il you were confronted with the Job
OF surveying an entire continent or
5000 miles of coast line, the earthS
curvature would be an important fac
tor. Imagine, then, being pals with
a giant globe, $4,000 miles in circum-
ference, that is whirling at the rate
of four miles second. Imagine a
surveying job so big that the curva.
ture cf the earth must be taken into
account. That's the job of the engi.
neers Of the United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey.
Now, the Coast and Geodetic Survey
has sometimes been called THE Gov
ernment bureau with the name no.
body knows" Briefly, it's scientists
and engineers make the charts which
guide the mariner upon the high seas
and also they make the control maps
upon which all detailed mapping is
based.
Ships i'm Dangerous Places.
SO it happens that the surveys
feet of ships sail ahead of the mari
ner and make the charts which are
later followed in the commerce of the
sea. This brings about a somewhat
peculiar situation. The United States
Coast Guard is charged by law with
protecting life and property along the
coasts of the United States and it's
possessions. Nevertheless, the ships of
the Coast Guard cannot be everywhere
at the same time and because the Coast
and Geodetic Survey ships are us.
in danUQr0lIQ
ters. these ships are frequently called
upon in the saving of life and prop.
erty. They are obeying the law of the
sea in this workAa higher law than
any man-made statute.
During the World War the British
admiralty sent out an order COM
manding all ships to refuse to go to
the aid of any disabled vessels. This
was because of the submarine men
ace, which in the opinion OF the Brit.
ish high command would result in
larger loss of life than to refuse aid to
distressed ships. The order. given in
good faith and with the best Of inten-
tions. was one of the hardest things
the British sailormen ever had to con-
tend with. AS a matter OF fact, there
are at least rumors to the effect that
the order was disregarded in more
than one instance because the COM
man6er of the ship had to choose be.
tween the mutiny of his crew and the
breaking Of the order.
Just recently the Canadian Pacific
liner Princess Charlotte, southbound
through Alaskan waters, ran aground
in Wrangell Narrows. Her S o s
calls were picked up by the Coast
and Geodetic Survey ship Explorer,
working in the vicinity. The Ex-
plorer got under way Immediately
and after an allnight run through a
dense fog reached the Princess Char
lotte at o'clock in the morning.
Two hundred and sixty-seven passen-
gers were removed and taken to
Wrangell Alaska.
Surveys Save More Lives.
This is just one instance i'm the
everyday life of the engineers Of the
Coast and Geodetic Survey. Many
other instances might be cited, but
they all sum up into the one fact that
the Government agency charged with
charting the coasts of the United
States and its possessions Is, because
of the very nature Of its work, most
efficient life.saving agency.
This matter of saving lives on the
high seas appeals to the Imagination.
Saving 267 passengers from the
steamer Princess Charlotte sounds
| like an achievement, yet. in its every
day work of surveying, the Coast and
! Geodetic Survey saves more lives in
the aggregate every year than could
be packed on a thousand steamers
| such as the steamer Princess Char.
| lotte.
| Twenty years ago navigation in
Alaskan waters was a decidedly haz-
ardous undertaking. Up there muir
derous pinnacle rocks poke their