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First map of an oceanic basin. Matthew Fontaine Maury produced this map in 1853 and published it in the Wind and Current Charts for that year.

Second map of an oceanic basin. Matthew Fontaine Maury produced this map in 1854 and published it in the Wind and Current Charts for that year. This map had significantly more data than the 1853 map including soundings by Lt. Otway Berryman, USN, on the USS DOLPHIN over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) north of the Azores. These were the first soundings on the MAR.

Bottom characteristic map of the approaches to New York Harbor by "United States Hydrographical Office" as published in Matthew Fontaine Maury's Wind and Current Charts for 1858. Data from United States Coast Survey. Note there is no expression of Hudson Canyon below the continental shelf break although the channel of the Ice Age Hudson River is clearly shown.

First profile of an oceanic basin. Matthew Fontaine Maury produced this profile in 1854 and published it in the Wind and Current Charts for that year.

An early example of a microscopic examination of ocean bottom sediment. This was published with a report by Lt. Joseph Dayman, RN, who ran a line of sounding s across the Atlantic Ocean from Newfoundland to Ireland on HMS CYCLOPS in 1857. This was the second line run and covered the same ground sounded by Lt. Otway Berryman for the USCS on the ARCTIC in 1856.

Sounding on the HMS CYCLOPS in mid-Atlantic Ocean in August 1857. The diagram on the right shows the problem with early hemp sounding line methods. The line would keep running out after reaching bottom and the surveyors would not be able to ascertain an accurate depth.

Top panel same as image map00006. Bottom panel demonstrates method of detaching weight and retrieving bottom sample such that the surveyor would at least know that the sounding weight had reached bottom. However, this did not improve the accuracy of the sounding.

Western section of survey line run by Lt. Joseph Dayman on HMS CYCLOPS during telegraph cable survey of 1857. The work of Berryman and Dayman between in 1856 and 1857 respectively marked a new era in ocean exploration, the beginning of systematic surveys, in this case to determine a telegraph cable route.

Middle section of survey line run by Lt. Joseph Dayman on HMS CYCLOPS during telegraph cable survey of 1857. The work of Berryman and Dayman between in 1856 and 1857 respectively marked a new era in ocean exploration, the beginning of systematic surveys, in this case to determine a telegraph cable route.

Eastern section of survey line run by Lt. Joseph Dayman on HMS CYCLOPS during telegraph cable survey of 1857. The work of Berryman and Dayman between in 1856 and 1857 respectively marked a new era in ocean exploration, the beginning of systematic surveys, in this case to determine a telegraph cable route.

Cover to the publication by Lt. Joseph Dayman detailing the work of running the first lines of soundings across the Atlantic Ocean as part of an intentional planned survey.

In 1858, Matthew Fontaine Maury modified his 1854 map to show the Telegraphic Plateau extending east-west across the Atlantic Ocean and an area of relatively shoal ground which he called Middle Ground. The Telegraphic Plateau actually extended through much of what is known today as the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone with no high mountains giving the illusion of a plateau.

A map of Hudson Canyon reproduced in James Dwight Dana's Manual of Geology, first edition, published in 1862. This map was provided by the United States Coast Survey to Dana. The first discovery of submarine canyons occurred on the Pacific Coast, Hueneme Canyon in 1855 and Monterey Canyon in 1857.

A curious map of the Arctic Ocean showing land extending north from Greenland. Published in 1869 in Petermann's Geographische Mittheilungen.

Josephine Bank, the first seamount discovered as a direct result of intentional exploration. Discovered by the Swedish Corvette Josephine in 1869. Northern 9/10 of bank.

Josephine Bank, the first seamount discovered as a direct result of intentional exploration. Discovered by the Swedish Corvette Josephine in 1869. Southern 1/2 of bank.

Josephine Bank, the first seamount discovered as a direct result of intentional exploration. Discovered by the Swedish Corvette Josephine in 1869. Image digitally merged from images map00016 and map00017.

The east coast of the United States showing the continental shelf, shelf break, continental slope, and sediment types. This was one of the first published maps of this nature. The Coast Survey had rediscovered the continental shelf break in 1848. Count Luigi Marsili had first noted it in the Gulf of Lyon about 1720 but that information had been forgotten in the mid Nineteenth Century.

"The Sea Bottom off Florida and Cuba" as published by Petermann's Geographische Mittheilungen in 1870. This map was drawn by Louis Francois de Pourtales of the the United States Coast Survey. Pourtales Plateau was named by Louis Agassiz, the first undersea feature off the continental shelf in U.S. waters that was discovered as the result of oceanographic exploration.

"The Sea Bottom off Long Island" as published by Petermann's Geographische Mittheilungen in 1870. This map was drawn by Louis Francois de Pourtales of the the United States Coast Survey. Map shows head of Hudson Canyon, the canyon axis as shown by the Mud Holes as it crosses the continental shelf, and the sediment types.

Full page presentation of the two maps shown in image map00019 and map00020. as published by Petermann's Geographische Mittheilungen in 1870 by Louis Francois de Pourtales of the United States Coast Survey.

Map of the North Atlantic Ocean published on the eve of the CHALLENGER Expedition in "The ocean, atmosphere, and life...." by the French geographer Elisee Reclus. This map shows some very large non-existent shoals to the east of Newfoundland as well a deep extending to the NE which seems imaginative. The profile is based on the work of Dayman and Berryman in 1856/1857.