The United States managed to beat back the greatest naval empire on the planet, secure its independence and then double its territory with the Louisiana Purchase all without clear knowledge of their maritime borders. The Englishman who would lead the eventual coastal survey, Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, realized the drawbacks to this ignorance while still on his way to the New World. After running into a storm, his captain reportedly suffered a stroke, leaving Hassler as the only one capable of guiding the ship the rest of the way. Without dependable maps to guide him, Hassler eventually did make landfall — in Delaware Bay, instead of Philadelphia, his target.

On this day, February 10, in 1807, Congress passed an “Act to provide for surveying the coasts of the United States”, selecting Hassler’s trigonometric design as the survey method.

Unfortunately for Hassler, he had to wait four years to begin his work. Around the same time Jefferson decided to go ahead with the survey, he suspended all maritime activity of the United States. Both the British and the French were attacking American merchant ships on the high seas (with the British deciding to press the captured Americans into service with the Royal Navy), and as result Jefferson suspended all trade with them. In the brief period between the end of the trade embargo and the outbreak of the British-American War of 1812, Hassler had just enough time to grab his scientific instruments from England.