Hot off the press

NOAA’s copper plate printing press, purchased by the U.S. Coast Survey in 1851 and in operation through 1976. (Image credit: NOAA)
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From NOAA

This copper plate printing press was in operation by the U.S. Coast Survey, the Environmental Science Services Administration, and then NOAA, from 1851 through 1976. 

Before we had smart phones and GPS, we used paper maps that we kept in our cars’ glove compartments. Ships’ navigators and surveyors used paper maps, too.

But instead of showing roads and highways, they depicted the shoreline and seafloor, providing water depths, locations of dangers to navigation, and other features that mariners needed to know about in order to stay safe.

Maps used for navigation on the water are called nautical charts.

 

 James Abbott McNeill Whistler, etcher, et al. Sketch of ANACAPA ISLAND IN SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL. Washington D.C.: United States Coast Survey, 1854

source 

 

The process of creating and duplicating paper charts was once difficult and time-consuming. 

 

Rare printing plate for a chart of Wickford Harbor, RI 

source 

The U.S. Coast Survey began engraving and printing charts in the mid-nineteenth century.

Ferdinand Hassler had two engravers brought over from Europe in late 1842 because the American engraving industry had not yet reached the same level of refinement.

In May of 1843, he added an apprentice engraver from Philadelphia to the newly formed engraving unit.

In 1851, this copper plate printing press was purchased for producing copies of the charts.

Operating the Coast and Geodetic Survey historic copper plate printing press.

(Image credit: NOAA)
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By the mid-1850s the U.S. Coast Survey had an entire Engraving Division, headed by Lt. J. C. Clark, who was on assignment from the Army.

The division included seven engravers, a number of apprentice engravers, and their clerical assistants.

One of the apprentices was a young man named James McNeill Whistler, who, after being quickly dismissed for lack of attendance and doodling on his copper plates, went on to become a world-famous American artist.

 

Matthew Lilly removes a completed print from a copper plate on the printing press

(Image credit: NOAA)
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The process for creating the U.S. Coast Survey’s hydrographic and topical charts began with the cartographers, who would sketch detailed hydrographic drawings of the selected location.

Next, the drawings would go to the engravers, who would select a piece of copper, polish out any blemishes, and replicate the drawings as etchings on the copper plate by applying acid with a stylus.

Finally, the copper plates would be sent to the printing press for duplication, creating the printed charts that were used for navigation.

Download this coloring page of NOAA’s printing press!

 

Coloring page created for NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey.

(Image credit: Taylor Morrison)
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The next time you visit a seafood restaurant, check the walls for nautical charts.

If you find one from 1976 or earlier with a single-ink color, it’s possible that it was printed on NOAA’s printing press or one like it! 

Links :

• NOAA’s printing press and the last man to operate it
• NOAA : NOAA preserves history of Washington, DC, with reproduced L’Enfant maps
• LOC : Fabricating the World: Copperplate Printing