Brief History of Hydrography PDF

GE 122 Hydrographic Surveying BRIEF HISTORY OF HYDROGRAPHY The oldest navigational chart known today is the Carte Pisane, so named as it was bought in 1829 from a Pisan family by the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. It was drawn on an animal skin towards the end of the 13thC, probably in Genoa whe...

GE 122 Hydrographic Surveying BRIEF HISTORY OF HYDROGRAPHY The oldest navigational chart known today is the Carte Pisane, so named as it was bought in 1829 from a Pisan family by the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. It was drawn on an animal skin towards the end of the 13thC, probably in Genoa where a school of marine cartography had been established; there was a similar school in Venice, while a third school was developed on the isle of Majorca. Known as 'portolans' the charts produced by each of these schools were similar in style and content. The most striking feature was networks of interconnecting rhumb lines emanating from compass roses representing 32 winds directions, each one of which could be used with dividers to set a ship's course. The entire Mediterranean coastline was depicted, the coastal names shown on the land leaving the sea area clear for track plotting. There were a few symbols including the cross for submerged rock but no depth soundings. By the 15thC Portuguese and Spanish portolans enabled Mediterranean seamen to sail to southern England and Flanders to load wool. For generations the northern seamen had navigated from one headline to another using written directions and soundings handed down from their forebears, a method of pilotage known as 'caping the ship'. With the development of printing Pierre Garcie of Rouen was the first to publish caping information in his 'Routier de la Mer', which he illustrated with simple woodcut coastal views. Cornelius Anthonisz, a draughtsman of Amsterdam realised that woodcut blocks could be used to print charts on paper, his first being his 'Karte van Ostland' of the Baltic and North Seas. Whilst adopting rhumb lines and other portolan features, he used Ptolomy's projection which had recently been rediscovered in Constantinople. Anthonisz had shown the way but it was Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer of Enkhuizen in Holland who, forty years on, printed paper charts from copper plate engravings. For many years he had travelled widely as a sea pilot gathering hydrographic information and when he came ashore at the age of 49 he enlisted fellow mariners to supply him with such material for compiling his charts. In 1584 Waghenaer published his great atlas 'Spieghel der Zeevaerdt' (Mirror of the Sea) containing 45 charts covering the European coasts from Norway to the Strait of Gibraltar. He introduced many new features such as coastal recognition profiles behind the coastlines; reducing the distances between harbours so that their approaches could be shown on a larger scale; the introduction of symbols for buoys, beacons, church spires etc. and soundings reduced to their depth at half tide. Waghenaer had made the great breakthrough in producing a paper chart designed by a seaman for seamen. He had a number of Dutch followers so that, for over 100 years, Dutch charts were widely available, even of British waters; eventually King Charles decided that the whole of Britain's coasts and harbours should be surveyed. For this massive task he selected a naval officer named Greenville Collins, granted him the title 'Hydrographer to the King' and provided him with the yacht Merlin. The work began in 1681 and took eleven years. 2 C-13 There was no general topographic map of the Kingdom to which Collins could relate his charts, nor did he have any method of finding his longitude and only the quadrant to assess his latitude; his soundings reduced to low water were fixed by compass bearings of shore marks which in turn were fixed by compass and measuring chain. In 1693 the resulting charts were published in an atlas entitled 'Great Britain's Coasting Pilot', which contained 47 charts and 30 pages of tide tables, sailing directions and coastal views. Precisely engraved, the charts included soundings and leading lines for harbour entry etc. The Pilot appealed to British seamen, a further twenty editions being published during the next hundred years. During the 16thC a school of hydrography was formed in Dieppe by the many sea pilots who sailed to distant shores. In 1661 Jean Baptiste Colbert became Chief Minister to Louis XIV and among his many tasks was that of revitalising the French Navy. He not only took over the Dieppe school but established similar hydrographic centres in a number of other French ports. This enabled him to have surveys made of the whole French coastline, every chart being directly connected to the national triangulation established by the Cassini dynasty. Colbert's cadre of hydrographers were working in New France and the mass of material coming from Quebec led to the establishment in Paris of the 'Dépôt Général des Cartes et Plans', now recognised as the first national Hydrographic Office. Denmark was the next nation to establish a Hydrographic Office, followed closely by the British in 1795; a further twenty or so countries established such offices in 19thC. About 1775 two British surveyors, Murdoch Mackenzie and his nephew of the same name were largely responsible for the invention of the station pointers, a device with which a vessel's position could be precisely plotted by the observation of two horizontal angles between three fixed marks onshore. This was a major technical advance which revolutionised sea surveying throughout the 19thC during which the demands for navigational charts both for war and peace increased dramatically. Even before World War I a number of national Hydrographers were considering how international cooperation could lead to the exchange of and the standardisation in chart design. With the end of the War the British and French Hydrographers jointly called for an international Conference at which delegates from 22 countries gathered in London in June 1919. Many Resolutions were adopted by the Conference concerning chart standardisation and finally a Resolution to form an International Hydrographic Office with three Directors. H.S.H. Prince Albert I of Monaco, who had been kept in touch with the Proceedings of the Conference, generously agreed to provide a building in the Principality to house the Bureau where it remains. The history of hydrography during the 20thC, during which there have been many technical developments, can be followed in the 75th Anniversary Commemorative Issue of the International Hydrographic Review dated March 1997. IMPORTANCE OF HYDROGRAPHY Firstly it is necessary to consider the IHO definition of Hydrography, which stands as follows: That branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the features of the seas and coastal areas for the primary purpose of navigation and all other marine purposes and activities, including --inter alia- offshore activities, research, protection of the environment, and prediction services. (IHO Pub. S-32) 3 C-13 Therefore, the development of a National Maritime Policy requires a well developed capability to conduct all these activities which will allow the obtaining of basic knowledge of the geographical, geological and geophysical features of the seabed and coast, as well the currents, tides and certain physical properties of the sea water; all of this data must then be properly processed so that the nature of the sea bottom, its geographical relationship with the land and the characteristics and dynamics of the ocean can be accurately depicted in all zones of national shipping. In brief, Hydrography, as defined, is the key to progress on all maritime activities, normally of great national economic importance. To adequately address areas such as: Safe and efficient operation of maritime traffic control; Coastal Zone Management; Exploration and Exploitation of Marine Resources; Environmental Protection; Maritime Defence. It is necessary to create a Hydrographic Service. The Hydrographic Service, through systematic data collection carried out on the coast and at sea, produces and disseminates information in support of maritime navigation safety and marine environment preservation, defence and exploitation. FIELDS OF COMPETENCE ASSOCIATED WITH HYDROGRAPHY **Maritime Transport** More than 80% of international trade in the world is carried by sea. Maritime commerce is a basic element for a nation\'s economy. Many areas and ports in the world do not have accurate nor adequate nautical chart coverage. Modern nautical charts are required for safe navigation through a country\'s waters and along coasts and to enter its ports. A lack of adequate nautical charts prevents the development of maritime trade in the waters and ports of the concerned nations. The shipping industry needs efficiency and safety. Poorly charted areas and the lack of information can cause voyages to be longer than necessary, and may prevent the optimum loading of ships, thus increasing costs. The saving of time and money resulting from the use of shorter and deeper routes and the possibility to use larger ships or load ships more deeply may produce important economies for national industry and commerce. It is also very important to note that the SOLAS Convention Chapter V considers a ship unseaworthy if it does not carry up-to-date charts necessary for the intended voyage. A solution to these problems would not be possible without the quality maps and charts produced and continually updated and distributed by a Hydrographic Service. These charts, produced by means of modern hydrographic surveys, are required to enable the larger ships of today to navigate through national waters and enter ports the access to which was formerly insecure and therefore are essential tools for the creation of coastal nations\' incomes. Modern charts also provide information required to create the routeing systems established by international conventions and to meet the economic interests of the coastal state. **Coastal Zone Management** Adequate coastal zone management includes items such as construction of new ports and the maintenance and development of existing ones; dredging operations for the maintenance of charted depths and for the 4 C-13 establishment, monitoring and improvement of channels; control of coastal erosion; land reclamation from the sea; establishment and monitoring of dumping grounds for industrial waste; extraction of mineral deposits; aquacultural activities; transportation and public works projects including construction of near shore infrastructure. Precise large-scale surveys provide the primary data essential for projects involving all items mentioned above. Due to the rapid changes to which shorelines are subject, these surveys must be updated with the frequency dictated by the monitoring and analysis process. The information collected by Hydrographic Offices about the coastal zone provides essential input to coastal zone GIS (Geographic Information Systems) which are increasingly being used for better overall management and decision-making with regard to conflicting uses within the coastal region. The users of hydrographic information go beyond the traditional user group, mariners, to include government agencies, coastal managers, engineers, and scientists. **Exploration and exploitation of marine resources** Although intended primarily to support safety of navigation, the extensive data-bases amassed over the years by Hydrographic Offices, together with their various products and services, are of considerable economic value in assisting the management and exploitation of natural marine resources. In recent years, it has become more evident that inadequate hydrographic services not only restrict the growth of maritime trade but also lead to costly delays in resource exploration. Coastal and offshore sedimentary areas may contain mineral deposits, in particular hydrocarbons, which require adequate surveys in order to be identified. If the existence of these hydrocarbons is confirmed, this will lead to the coastal nation\'s undertaking development of hydrocarbon production which implies interpretation of the sea floor morphology; navigation safety for the transportation of these hazardous cargoes; safety of offshore platforms and related sea floor transmission systems and the placement of production wells and the laying of pipelines. Bathymetric, tidal and meteorological data provided by a Hydrographic Service is a fundamental element in the development of a hydrocarbon industry. The fishing industry is also a source of national wealth. Fishermen need marine information not only for the safe navigation of their vessels but also for safe deployment of their fishing gear, which will prevent costly losses. In addition, oceanographic charts, compiled and produced by Hydrographic Offices, are now being extensively used by the fishing industry. Fishery activities need detailed charts in order to: \- avoid loss of fishing gear and fishing vessels on undetected or poorly charted obstructions; \- identify fishing areas; \- locate areas where fishing is limited or prohibited. This kind of information is subject to frequent changes and therefore needs constant updating. Hydrographic surveying is essential to obtain timely and up-to-date information and should be periodically repeated. The trend of modern fishery science is orientated towards habitat management; bathymetry and other ocean data will provide important input for proper species management and development. 5 C-13 **Environment Protection and Management** An essential factor for the protection of the environment is safe and accurate navigation. Pollution caused by wrecks and oil spills are a major damage factor, the economic consequences of which are more devastating than is commonly imagined, but which, in some cases, have been estimated at US \$ 3 billion for a single incident. The value of navigation services for the protection of the marine environment has been internationally recognized. In this respect, it should be noted that Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED), held in 1992, recognized that \"Hydrographic charting is vitally important to navigational safety\" **Marine Science** Marine science depends largely on bathymetric information. Global tide and circulation models, local and regional models for a wide variety of scientific studies, marine geology/geophysics, the deployment/placement of scientific instrumentation and many other aspects of marine science depend on bathymetry provided by Hydrographic Services. **National Spatial Data Infrastructure** In the information age it is realised by governments that good quality and well managed spatial data are an essential ingredient to economic and commercial development, and to environmental protection. For this reason many nations are establishing national spatial data infrastructures, bringing together the services and data sets of major national spatial data providers, for example topography, geodesy, geophysics, meteorology, and bathymetry. The Hydrographic Service is an important part of the national spatial data infrastructure. **Maritime Boundary Delimitation** Good hydrographic data is essential to proper delimitation of the maritime boundaries as detailed in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. **Maritime Defense** Navies are major users of nautical chart products in that they must be prepared for deployment to many areas in the world and typically must maintain a large set of charts. The unique risks associated with the carriage of munitions and nuclear material make it important for such vessels to have up-to-date information. The marine data and information provided by national Hydrographic Offices support a variety of products used in naval operations. Surface, submarine, anti-submarine, mine-hunting and airsea naval operations need nautical information products very different one from another. Hydrographic and oceanographic data necessary for the preparation of such products must be available if national investment in defence is to be optimised. T**ourism** Good charts are particularly important to the development of the economically important industry of tourism, especially involving cruise ships. The potential of the cruise ship industry is especially important to developing nations. Yet this important source of revenue cannot be properly developed if safe navigation to remote touristic landscapes is prevented or limited by a lack of adequate charts. Tourism is one of the major growth industries of the 21st Century. **Recreational boating** The recreational boating community represents a large percentage of mariners. It is generally not mandatory for leisure craft to carry charts and recreational mariners often do not update their charts; however, the advent of digital chart information is making it possible for the recreational user to have updated chart information readily available along with many types of value added information such as marina locations, etc. This development is likely to result in the recreational leisure sector becoming a significantly larger user of the hydrographic data as greater numbers of people become able to afford boat ownership. Again income from this sector is increasingly significant to many countries. As it can be seen, it is extremely difficult to quantify the economic and commercial benefits which flow from a national hydrographic programme, but several studies by IHO Member States have suggested that the cost to benefit ratio is about 1:10 for major maritime nations. It is also true that volumes of maritime trade are growing continuously and, in the future, the exploitation and sustainable development of the national maritime zones will become a major pre-occupation of government and industry. It should also be noted that, in economic parlance, the national hydrographic programme is regarded as a \"Public Good\". That is to say the necessary services required in the public interest will not be supplied at optimal levels by market forces alone. In every IHO Member State the provision of hydrographic services is a responsibility of central government, as an essential component of national economic development. This overall and important economic dimension of the work has sometimes been obscured by the emphasis on sector interests served by hydrographic services, and more recently by legislative or regulatory requirements. It is clear that the economic dimension of Hydrography deserves greater attention than it has received in the past. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_