The years between the end of the American Revolution and the beginning of the Civil War were crucial ones in the history of American coastal charting. At the beginning, foreign charts, principally British, were available; and a few of American origin. The latter were largely copies of British charts, and a few were compiled by local shipmasters and pilots. The more successful publishers were able to compile hydrographic data using their own resources, and added corrections in new editions of their charts. A "survey of the coast" was initiated by Congress in 1807 under Thomas Jefferson's...