The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey ( USC&GS; known as the Survey of the Coast from 1807 to 1836, and as the United States Coast Survey from 1836 until 1878) was the first scientific agency of the United States government. It existed from 1807 to 1970, and throughout its history was responsible for mapping and charting the coast of the United States, and later the coasts of U.S. territories. In 1871, it gained the additional responsibility of surveying the interior of the United States and geodesy became a more important part of its work, leading to it being renamed the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878.

Long the U.S. government's only scientific agency, the Survey accumulated other scientific and technical responsibilities as well, including astronomy, cartography, metrology, meteorology, geology, geophysics, hydrography, navigation, oceanography, exploration, pilotage, tides, and topography. It also was responsible for the standardization of weights and measures throughout the United States from 1836 to 1901. In 1959, it was assigned the responsibility for U.S. government oceanographic studies worldwide.

By the mid-19th century, the Coast and Geodetic Survey operated a fleet of survey ships that constituted a distinct seagoing service of the United States until 1970. The Survey supported U.S. military operations in wartime, and in 1917 the Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps was created as a new uniformed service of the United States to carry out both wartime and peacetime surveying and related operations.

In 1970, the Coast and Geodetic Survey was abolished when it merged with other government agencies to create the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), but its elements were reorganized and incorporated into NOAA as the National Ocean Survey, later renamed the National Ocean Service. In addition to the National Ocean Service, NOAA's National Geodetic Survey, Office of Coast Survey, and NOAA fleet all trace their ancestry in whole or in part to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps is the descendant of the Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps. In addition, the modern National Institute of Standards and Technology, although long separated from the Coast and Geodetic Survey, traces its ancestry to the Coast and Geodetic Survey's Office of Weights and Measures.

History Earliest years

The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey began its existence as the United States Survey of the Coast, created within the United States Department of the Treasury by an Act of Congress on February 10, 1807, to conduct a "Survey of the Coast."NOAA, Coast and Geodetic Survey Heritage noaa.gov NOAA History: NOAA Legacy Timeline 1807–1899Archives Catalog: Department of Commerce. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 1913-7/13/1965 Organization Authority Record Accessed 29 October 2022Organization and Law of the Department of Commerce and Labor, p. 97. The Survey of the Coast, the United States governments first scientific agency, represented the interest of the administration of President Thomas Jefferson in science and the stimulation of international trade by using scientific surveying methods to chart the waters of the United States and make them safe for navigation. A Swiss immigrant with expertise in both surveying and the standardization of weights and measures, Ferdinand R. Hassler, was selected to lead the Survey.Theberge, Captain Albert E., The Coast Survey 1807–1867: Volume I of the History of the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "THE HASSLER LEGACY: FERDINAND RUDOLPH HASSLER and the UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY: THE EARLY YEARS", no publisher listed, NOAA History, 1998.

Hassler submitted a plan for the survey work involving the use of triangulation to ensure scientific accuracy of surveys, but international relations prevented the new Survey of the Coast from beginning its work; the Embargo Act of 1807 brought American overseas trade virtually to a halt only a month after Hasslers appointment and remained in effect until Jefferson left office in March 1809. It was not until 1811 that Jeffersons successor, President James Madison, sent Hassler to Europe to purchase the instruments necessary to conduct the planned survey, as well as standardized weights and measures. Hassler departed on August 29, 1811, but eight months later, while he was in England, the War of 1812 broke out, forcing him to remain in Europe until its conclusion in 1815. Hassler did not return to the United States until August 16, 1815. The Survey finally began surveying operations in 1816, when Hassler started work in the vicinity of New York City. The first baseline was measured and verified in 1817.

Suspension of work With surveying work barely underway, Hassler was taken by surprise when the United States Congress – frustrated by the slow and limited progress the Survey had made in its first decade, unwilling to endure the time and expense involved in scientifically precise surveying, unconvinced of the propriety of expending U.S. government funds on scientific endeavors, and uncomfortable with Hassler leading the effort because of his foreign birth – enacted legislation on April 14, 1818, which repealed most of the 1807 statute. Congress believed that United States Army and United States Navy officers could achieve surveying results adequate for safe navigation during their routine navigation and charting activities and could do so more quickly and cheaply than Hassler, so its 1818 law removed the Survey of the Coast from the Department of the Treasury, prohibited the U.S. government from employing civilians to conduct coastal surveys, and gave the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy responsibility for such surveys under the auspices of the United States Department of War and United States Department of the Navy, respectively. Although the 1818 law did not abolish the Survey of the Coast, it had the effect of removing Hassler from the superintendency and suspending the Survey's operations.

During the 14 years from 1818 to 1832, the Survey existed without a superintendent or civilian workforce and without conducting any surveys. During these years, the Army conducted no surveys, those the Navy carried out achieved unsatisfactory results, and the United States Secretary of the Navy and others repeatedly called on Congress to revive the 1807 law.

Work resumes On July 10, 1832, Congress passed a law renewing the original law of 1807 and somewhat extending its scope, placing the responsibility for coastal surveying back in the Survey of the Coast, returning it to the Department of the Treasury, and permitting the hiring of civilians to carry it out. Hassler was reappointed as the Surveys superintendent that year. As authorized by the 1832 law, the administration of President Andrew Jackson expanded and extended the Survey of the Coasts scope and organization. The Survey of the Coast resumed field work in April 1833.

In July 1833, Edmund E. Blunt, the son of hydrographer Edmund B. Blunt, accepted a position with the Survey. The elder Blunt had begun publication of the American Coast Pilot – the first book of sailing directions, nautical charts, and other information for mariners in North American waters to be published in North America – in 1796. Although the Survey relied on articles it published in local newspapers to provide information to mariners in the next decades, Blunts employment with the Survey began a relationship between the American Coast Pilot and the Survey in which the Surveys findings were incorporated into the American Coast Pilot and the Surveys charts were sold by the Blunt family, which became staunch allies of the Survey in its disputes with its critics. Eventually, the relationship between the Survey and the Blunts would lead to the establishment of the Surveys United States Coast Pilot publications in the latter part of the 19th century.noaa.gov "The United States Coast Pilot – A Short History", Theberge, Albert E., Captain, NOAA Corps

Association with United States Navy The Survey had barely resumed its work when President Jackson transferred it from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of the Navy on March 11, 1834. Survey results under Navy Department authority again were unsatisfactory, and on March 26, 1836, Jackson ordered the Department of the Treasury to resume the administration of the Survey, which was renamed the United States Coast Survey in 1836. However, the Navy retained a close connection with the hydrographic efforts of the Coast Survey under law requiring Survey ships to be commanded and crewed by U.S. Navy officers and men when the Navy could provide such support. Under this system, which persisted until the Survey was granted the authority to crew its ships in 1900, nearly half the Survey's ships were crewed and officered by U.S. Navy personnel over the 50-year period between 1848 and 1898; U.S. Navy officers and Coast Survey civilians served alongside one another aboard ship, and many of the most famous names in hydrography for both the Survey and Navy of the period are linked.Organization and Law of the Department of Commerce and Labor, p. 98. In addition, the United States Department of War provided U.S. Army officers for service with the Survey during its early years. Hassler believed that expertise in coastal surveys would be of importance in future wars and welcomed the participation of Army and Navy personnel, and his vision in this regard laid the foundation for the commissioned corps of officers that would be created in the Survey in 1917 as the ancestor of todays National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps.Theberge, Captain Albert E., The Coast Survey 1807–1867: Volume I of the History of the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "THE HASSLER LEGACY: FERDINAND RUDOLPH HASSLER and the UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY: THE REBIRTH OF THE SURVEY," no publisher listed, NOAA History, 1998.

Growth years under Hassler During the nineteenth century, the remit of the Survey was rather loosely drawn and it had no competitors in federally funded scientific research. Various superintendents developed its work in fields as diverse as astronomy, cartography, meteorology, geodesy, geology, geophysics, hydrography, navigation, oceanography, exploration, pilotage, tides, and topography. The Survey published important articles by Charles Sanders Peirce on the design of experiments and on a criterion for the statistical treatment of outliers.. NOAA PDF Eprint (goes to Report p. 200, PDF's p. 215). U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Annual Reports links for years 1837–1965. Reprinted in Writings of Charles S. Peirce, v. 3, pp. 140–160.Peirce, C. S. (1876 [published 1879]), "Appendix No. 14. Note on the Theory of the Economy of Research" in Report of the Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey Showing the Progress of the Survey for Fiscal Year Ending with June 1876, pp. 197–201, NOAA PDF Eprint, goes to p. 197, PDF's page 222. Reprinted in Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, v. 7, paragraphs 139–157 and in Operations Research v. 15, n. 4, July–August 1967, pp. 643–648, abstract at JSTOR Ferdinand Hassler became the first Superintendent of Weights and Measures beginning in November 1830, and the Office of Weights and Measures, the ancestor of todays National Institute of Standards and Technology, was placed under the control of the Coast Survey in 1836; until 1901, the Survey thus was responsible for the standardization of weights and measures throughout the United States.