- Title: Reconnoissance of Sabine Pass
- Author: A. D. Bache
- Date: 1853
- Medium: Hand-colored engraving
- Condition: Very Good Plus - fold across lower third of image, top margin reinstated
- Inches: 10 3/8 x 12 3/4 [Paper]
- Centimeters: 26.35 x 32.39 [Paper]
- Product ID: 312010
(I No. 2) U.S. Coast Survey A.D. Bache Supdt.
Reconnoissance of Sabine Pass
By the Hydrographic Party under the command of Lieut. J. Wilkinson U. S. N. Assistant
Scale 1/40,000
1853
Map of Sabine Pass, where the Sabine River flows between Texas Point and Louisiana Point into the Gulf of 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.