[Alabama & Mississippi]

Mississippi Sound and Approaches Dauphin Island to Cat Island

Washington D.C. Published by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, January 1922. Large folding nautical chart, printed on heavy paper stock. Colored. Sheet size: 29 x 43 1/4 inches.

A rare original coastal survey of the border between Mississippi and Alabama including the Mississippi Sound, Gulfport, Biloxi, Pascagoula, and a series of barrier islands: Cat Island, Ship Island, Horn Island, Petit Bois Island, Dauphin Island, and Island Aux Herbes.

Established by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807 as the Survey of the Coast, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey was the United States' first civilian scientific agency. This agency has followed its mission to survey the U.S. coastline, create nautical charts of the coast, and help increase maritime safety since its founding, and has often played fascinating roles in significant chapters of U.S. history. It served in all theaters of the Civil War in the service of the Union Army and Navy, pioneered acoustic exploration in the wake of the sinking of the Titanic, and during WWI it worked to detect enemy submarines. In addition, this agency worked to survey and produce detailed maps and renderings of the U.S. coast. These nautical survey maps (commonly referred to as "T-sheets") provide fascinating insights into the history of the United States coastline, which has and will continue to shift. These maps are the most important data source for understanding the physical and ecological characteristics of the U.S. shoreline. The present map is notable for its inclusion of Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula (as they were gridded in 1922) and Cat Island, a barrier island used for an undercover WWII program, Dogs for Defense. Cat Island was chosen as the training camp dedicated to a specialized training program based off the untrue belief that dogs could differentiate humans by smell based on their cultural heritage. The top secret program attempted to train dogs to track and attack Japanese soldiers in the Pacific Theater and was held at Cat Island because of its similar terrain to that of the Pacific Islands and its uninhabited status. This operation was unsuccessful due to the incorrect assumption and shut down in 1944. This map is a highly detailed and accurate sea chart of the coastal border between Mississippi and Alabama, and an important historical view of the developing states.

Item #41198

Price: $350.00