In 1819, President James Monroe was hopeful that the United States Survey of the Coast would be completed, and the seacoast defense systems would be back on schedule. Unfortunately, Congress fired the only man who could make it happen: Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler.
President Jefferson first proposed to Congress in 1807 that a national survey be established to complete a chart of the East coat and all of it's adjacent "shoals" and "surroundings". Congress responded by appropriating $50,000 to carry out "An Act to Provide For Surveying The Coast of The United States". The survey was to be done in three steps. First was a series of astronomical observations from at select locations. Second was a trigonometrical survey between these points, and third was a nautical survey of the shoals and soundings based upon the trigonometrical survey. At the invitation of Thomas Jefferson, a plan submitted by a young Swiss political refugee named Ferdinand R. Hassler who was at the time a Professor in the Military Academy at West Point. Execution of the plan did not begin until 1811 when Hassler went to Europe to procure the instruments and tools for the work. Because of the war, Hassler was detained in England until 1815, and the contract to begin work was not signed until August of 1816. Finally, in 1817 work began in the bay and harbor of New York, but Congress failed provide for the continuation of the project and it was suspended. Then in 1818, because so little progress had been made, Congress repealed the law that appointed the Hassler as the superintendent, arguing that the survey should not be under civilian management and that only officers of the Army and Navy should be employed on the project. Because Hassler was the only one qualified to lead the work, the survey came to a screeching halt.
In 1819, the Navy Department made an attempt to restart the survey. President Monroe was optimistic, and in his annual address to Congress that year, he remarked that the "survey of the coast for the establishment of fortifications is now nearly completed, and considerable progress has been made in the collection of materials for the construction of fortifications in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Chesapeake Bay". Monroe reported that several of the fortifications in the Chesapeake bay, New York harbor, and Gulf coast were advancing, while progress on others in lesser explored areas of the coast were delayed. Monroe remained hopeful stating that "as soon as the survey of the coast is completed", the engineers could begin surveying the northern and northwestern frontiers.
"The survey of the coast for the establishment of fortifications is now nearly completed, and considerable progress has been made in the collection of materials for the construction of fortifications in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Chesapeake Bay. The works on the eastern bank of the Potomac below Alexandria and on the Pea Patch, in the Delaware, are much advanced, and it is expected that the fortifications at the Narrows, in the harbor of NY, will be completed the present year. To derive all the advantages contemplated from these fortifications it was necessary that they should be judiciously posted, and constructed with a view to permanence. The progress hitherto has therefore been slow; but as the difficulties in parts heretofore the least explored and known are surmounted, it will in future be more rapid. As soon as the survey of the coast is completed, which it is expected will be done early in the next spring, the engineers employed in it will proceed to examine for like purposes the northern and northwestern frontiers."Unfortunately, Monroe's optimism did not prove to be warranted. While various attempts were made to survey some portions of the coast from 1819 to 1832, no general systematic work was ever attempted or completed. It wasn't until 1832, when Congress passed an act to reorganize the surveys. Guess who was appointed as the superintendent. Yep, it was Ferdinand R. Hassler. He remained in this position until his death in 1843. In 2007, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) celebrated the 200th anniversary of the United States Coast survey founded by Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler. The survey played an important role in the third seacoast defense system, as Monroe reported in his 1819 State of the Union.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29461
United States Congressional serial set, Issue 2700 (1890) pgs 87-92
http://www.navyandmarine.org/ondeck/1800coastsurvey.htm
https://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Oceanic_and_Atmospheric_Administration
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