How Admiralty hydrography became an institution

The institutional story begins with the first Admiralty chart and the Naval Chart Committee, then follows the sale of charts to merchant shipping after the Napoleonic Wars. The label "court charts" is treated cautiously because it appears in a contemporary naval secretary's usage but is disputed by later scholars. Sailing directions, light lists, tide tables, notices to mariners, and Beaufort's compass department made hydrography a continuing public service. Later milestones include international conferences, radio-station lists, and the arrival of automatic data processing aboard survey ships. The Hydrographic Department's 1978 export award shows how the quality and international sale of Admiralty products also became a source of British prestige. Accurate charts were also military intelligence, since an enemy needed the same knowledge of channels and hazards to operate near a hostile coast.