 The front cover of Coast Pilot Volume Five | |
| Frequency | Yearly |
|---|---|
| Publisher | National Ocean Service |
United States Coast Pilot is a nine-volume American navigation publication distributed yearly by the Office of Coast Survey, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Ocean Service. The purpose of the publication is to supplement nautical charts of the waters of the United States.
Each volume of the United States Coast Pilot contains comprehensive sections on local operational considerations and navigation regulations, with later chapters containing detailed discussions of coastal navigation; an appendix provides information on obtaining additional weather information, communications services, and other data. An index and additional tables complete the volume. [1]
Information comes from field inspections, survey vessels, and various harbor authorities. Maritime officials and pilotage associations provide additional information. Each volume of Coast Pilot is updated regularly using the weekly United States Government 's weekly Notice to Mariners . [1]
Coast Pilot volumes provide more detailed information than the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency-produced multi-volume Sailing Directions publication because Sailing Directions is intended exclusively for the oceangoing mariner. [1]
Various charts and pilot books for North American waters were published in England beginning in 1671, but the first book of sailing directions, charts, and other information for mariners in North American waters published in North America was the American Coast Pilot, first produced by Edmund M. Blunt in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1796. In 1833, Blunt's son Edmund E. Blunt accepted employment with the United States Coast Survey, and this began a relationship between the Blunt family and the Coast Survey in which the Coast Survey provided hydrographic survey information to the Blunts for incorporation into the American Coast Pilot and the Blunts sold the Survey's charts, while the Blunts served as influential allies of the Survey in defending the Survey against its critics and lobbying for funding of the Survey's efforts. [2]
Other than providing information to the Blunts for publication in the American Coast Pilot and charts for them to sell, the Coast Survey relied exclusively on articles published in local newspapers to provide its information to mariners. This began to change in 1858, when the Coast Survey's George Davidson adapted an article published in a San Francisco, California, newspaper into an addendum to that year's Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey. It was the first time that the Coast Survey had published a mariner's guide of any kind outside of a newspaper or the Blunts'American Coast Pilot, and it is retrospectively considered the first example of what would later become the United States Coast Pilot. [2]
Twenty-one editions of the American Coast Pilot had been published by the time George W. Blunt sold the copyright for the publication to the U.S. Government in 1867. Although by that time the American Coast Pilot already consisted almost entirely of public information produced by the Coast Survey anyway, the transaction placed responsibility for regular production of the publication with the Coast Survey for the first time. The publication existed under various names until 1888, when the name United States Coast Pilot was adopted for volumes covering navigation along the United States East Coast and United States Gulf Coast. Thirty years later, the name also began to be applied to volumes covering the United States West Coast and the Territory of Alaska. [2]
The Coast Survey, known from 1878 as the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, continued to publish the Coast Pilot until it merged with other U.S. Government agencies to form the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on 3 October 1970. The Office of Coast Survey in NOAA's National Ocean Service has published them since then.
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, marine navigation, aeronautic navigation, and space navigation.
Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary purpose of safety of navigation and in support of all other marine activities, including economic development, security and defense, scientific research, and environmental protection.
A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a sea area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land, natural features of the seabed, details of the coastline, navigational hazards, locations of natural and human-made aids to navigation, information on tides and currents, local details of the Earth's magnetic field, and human-made structures such as harbours, buildings, and bridges. Nautical charts are essential tools for marine navigation; many countries require vessels, especially commercial ships, to carry them. Nautical charting may take the form of charts printed on paper or computerized electronic navigational charts. Recent technologies have made available paper charts which are printed "on demand" with cartographic data that has been downloaded to the commercial printing company as recently as the night before printing. With each daily download, critical data such as Local Notices to Mariners are added to the on-demand chart files so that these charts are up to date at the time of printing.
Piloting or pilotage is navigating, using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or aircraft with respect to a desired course or location. Horizontal fixes of position from known reference points may be obtained by sight or by radar. Vertical position may be obtained by depth sounder to determine depth of the water body below a vessel or by altimeter to determine an aircraft's altitude, from which its distance above the ground can be deduced. Piloting a vessel is usually practiced close to shore or on inland waterways. Pilotage of an aircraft is practiced under visual meteorological conditions for flight.
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the ship's captain or aircraft commander of estimated timing to destinations while en route, and ensuring hazards are avoided. The navigator is in charge of maintaining the aircraft or ship's nautical charts, nautical publications, and navigational equipment, and they generally have responsibility for meteorological equipment and communications. With the advent of GPS, the effort required to accurately determine one's position has decreased by orders of magnitude, so the entire field has experienced a revolutionary transition since the 1990s with traditional navigation tasks being used less frequently.
A bathymetric chart is a type of isarithmic map that depicts the submerged topography and physiographic features of ocean and sea bottoms. Their primary purpose is to provide detailed depth contours of ocean topography as well as provide the size, shape and distribution of underwater features. Topographic maps display elevation above ground and are complementary to bathymetric charts. Charts use a series of lines and points at equal intervals to showcase depth or elevation. A closed shape with increasingly smaller shapes inside of it can indicate an ocean trench or a seamount, or underwater mountain, depending on whether the depths increase or decrease going inward.
The Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) is part of the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and is Canada's authoritative hydrographic office. The CHS represents Canada in the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).
The National Geodetic Survey (NGS), formerly the United States Survey of the Coast (1807–1836), United States Coast Survey (1836–1878), and United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) (1878–1970), is a United States federal agency that defines and manages a national coordinate system, providing the foundation for transportation and communication; mapping and charting; and a large number of applications of science and engineering. Since its foundation in its present form in 1970, it has been part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), of the United States Department of Commerce.
The American Practical Navigator, originally written by Nathaniel Bowditch, is an encyclopedia of navigation. It serves as a valuable handbook on oceanography and meteorology, and contains useful tables and a maritime glossary. In 1867 the copyright and plates were bought by the Hydrographic Office of the United States Navy. As of 2019 it is still published by the U.S. Government and is available free online from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the modern successor agency to the 19th Century Hydrographic Office. The publication is considered one of America's nautical institutions.
Sailing Directions are written directions that describe the routes to be taken by boats and ships during coastal navigation and port approaches. There are also products known as Sailing Directions, which are books written by various Hydrographic Offices throughout the world. They are known as Pilot Books, because they provide local knowledge of routes and landmarks, which would typically be provided by a local marine pilot. As such, they are used frequently by naval and government vessels, who are exempted from 'Compulsory Pilotage' in many ports.
A notice to mariners advises mariners of important matters affecting navigational safety, including new hydrographic information, changes in channels and aids to navigation, and other important data.
A Local Notice to Mariners is an authoritative instruction issued by a designated official, typically the harbormaster.
Nautical publications is a technical term used in maritime circles describing a set of publications, either published by national governments or by commercial and professional organisations, for use in safe navigation of ships, boats, and similar vessels. Other publications might cover topics such as seamanship and cargo operations. In the UK, the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, the Witherby Publishing Group and the Nautical Institute provide numerous navigational publications, including charts, publications on how to navigate and passage planning publications. In the US, publications are issued by the US government and US Coast Guard.
Distances Between Ports is a publication that lists the distances between major ports. Reciprocal distances between two ports may differ due to the different routes of currents and climatic conditions chosen. To reduce the number of listings needed, junction points along major routes are used to consolidate routes converging from different directions.
The World Port Index contains a tabular listing of thousands of ports throughout the world, describing their location, characteristics, known facilities, and available services. Of particular interest are the applicable volume of Sailing Directions and the number of the harbor chart. The table is arranged geographically, with an alphabetical index.
The Radio Navigational Aids publication contains a detailed list of selected worldwide radio stations that provide services to the mariner. The publication is divided into chapters according to the nature of the service provided by the radio stations. The services include Radio direction finder and Radar Stations; stations broadcasting navigational warnings, time signals or medical advice; communication traffic for distress, emergency and safety including the Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS) and long range navigational aids. It also contains chapters describing procedures of the AMVER System, and the interim emergency procedures and communication instructions to be followed by U.S merchant vessels in times of crisis. A new edition of Publication 117 is published annually. This publication is available in its entirety on the website and there are also database queries available for much of the data contained within.
A rutter is a mariner's handbook of written sailing directions. Before the advent of nautical charts, rutters were the primary store of geographic information for maritime navigation.
The United States Hydrographic Office prepared and published maps, charts, and nautical books required in navigation. The office was established by an act of 21 June 1866 as part of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of the Navy. It was transferred to the Department of Defense on 10 August 1949. The office was abolished on 10 July 1962, replaced by the Naval Oceanographic Office.
Australian Pilot is a series of editions of Sailing Directions to navigators in Australian coastal waters.
| General References |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Nautical charts | ||
| Lights and Buoys | ||
| Geographic Information | ||
| Celestial Navigation | ||
| Tidal Information | ||
| Radio Information | ||
| Periodicals | ||
| See also | ||
