• Title: Preliminary Survey of the Entrance to the Rio Grande Texas
• Author: A. D. Bache
• Date: 1854
• Medium: Hand-colored engraving
• Condition: Very Good Plus - wear along issued folds
• Inches: 15 3/4 x 15 1/4 [Paper]
• Centimeters: 40.01 x 38.74 [Paper]
• Product ID: 100935

(I No. 2) U.S. Coast Survey A.D. Bache Supdt.

Preliminary Survey of the Entrance to the Rio Grande Texas

Topography by W. E. Greenwell Assistant, Hydrography by the Party under the command of Lieut. J. Wilkinson U. S. N. Asst.

Scale 1/20,000

1854

Map of the entrance to the Rio Grande at the southern tip of Texas bordering Mexico. Includes data regarding currents, tides, and geographic coordinates, as well as directions for sailors.

Surveyor, scientist, and pioneering oceanographer A. D. Bache (1806-1867) served as the 6th Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey. Born in Philadelphia, he came from a prominent political family, and was the great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin. Under his leadership, the Coast Survey’s operations grew significantly, expanding from nine to seventeen states as it surveyed the Gulf and West Coasts. Bache ran meticulous studies relating to ocean currents, tides, and the earth’s magnetic field, endeavors which provided in-depth knowledge about U.S. coastal geography. Thanks to Bache, the Coast Survey evolved into an immense resource for the U.S. government and one of the foremost scientific institutions in the country leading up to the Civil War.