COAST PILOTS, a book compiled to assist mariners in the navigation of their vessels, and, when from any cause they are without charts, to enable them to safely carry their vessels from port to port along the coast. The governments of all large maritime nations pub lish works for these purposes.
As early as 1796 a volume known• as The American Coast Pilot,' by Capt. Lawrence Fur long, was published in Newburyport, Mass., by Edmund M. Blunt, and the first edition met with so ready a sale that a second edition of the same work was published in 1798. Since the latter date numerous compilers have published coast pilots of the coast of the United States and its harbors. These works were compiled from charts, from reports by shipmasters pub lished in the newspapers, and from surveys and the personal knowledge of the compilers, some of whom were experienced shipmasters.
The vessels of the Coast and Geodetic Sur vey (q.v. ), while engaged in surveying the coast and harbors of the United States, collected much information of importance to mariners which could not be shown on the charts or com pletely given in 'Notices to Mariners.' 'Coast Pilots' are published and distributed by the Coast and Geodetic Survey at the cost of the printing and binding. Similar information can not be collected by private enterprise except at great cost and with imperfect means, and at the present time all the private publications con taining'such information relating to the coast of the United States are compilations from government publications and based generally on the work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
The compilation of the 'Coast Pilots' neces sitates work in the office and in the field. The office work consists of the collection of the latest data from the reports and surveys of hydrographic and topographic parties, from the reports and surveys of the United States engi neers engaged in the improvement of harbors and waterways, and from correspondence with local authorities and engineers. This informa tion, in manuscript, is then put in the form of a volume which experience has shown to be convenient for the use of the mariner.
For the field work a vessel of the survey, with the compilers of the 'Coast Pilot' on board, visits every part of the coast which is treated in the volume; the information col lected in the office is verified and, if necessary, corrected on the spot ; the sailing lines and directions are tested by running over them; such artificial aids and natural landmarks as are of use to the mariner are noted and hydro graphic examinations of reported dangers and changes are made; pilots, shipmasters and local authorities are interviewed and the latest in formation is incorporated, together with such notes as can only be obtained by observation and experience in the locality.
On returning to the office from the field work, this manuscript, correct to date, is pre pared for the printer, and when printed the volumes are issued with a supplement or in sertion sheet containing the changes which have occurred since the date of the preparation of the volume and while the matter was going through the press.
The 'Coast Pilots) published by the Coast and Geodetic Survey contain: 1. A tabular description of lighthouses, light vessels and fog signals; lists of life-saving sta tions, storm-warning display stations, and sea coast telegraph stations, and information re garding tides, tidal currents, variation of the compass, etc.
2. Nautical descriptions of the coast and har bors and general information concerning the several bodies of water and harbors, including notes relative to pilots, depth of water, draft of vessels entering the harbor, supplies, facilities for making repairs, usual or best anchorage and other matters of practical value. In each case the information of this nature precedes the sailing directions and is printed in smaller type.
3. Sailing directions, with subordinate para graphs treating of prominent objects, dangers, aids to navigation, etc. The arrangement con forms to the order in which these matters would he considered in practice and be available when wanted promptly. For this purpose, and to afford a ready means of reference from one part to another, the sailing directions, where long, are divided into numbered or lettered paragraphs, printed in large type, each fol lowed by its own subordinate remarks in 'smaller type.