Charting New Courses
How Modernizing Canada’s Nautical Charts is Serving More than Just Ships
“Nautical charts protect lives, property and the marine environment.”
This is the motto of the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) which has been mapping the Canadian ocean for over 100 years, and charting Newfoundland and Labrador waters since the province joined Confederation in 1949.
Over the years how it does its work has evolved from cumbersome manual methods of measuring ocean depth to the ...
Over and Under
Sarah Walsh, from Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, has always been on a wet and slippery slope.
Her summers were spent in Port Blandford where she says, “My parents always had us out on the water. Every weekend we were either out fishing or going to the beaches. I can’t remember when we never had a speed boat, canoe or a pleasure craft. I think that’s where it kind of started.”
She says as a child she always wanted to be a marine biologist, but somewhere along the way, “When I went ...
Charting Your Way
Gary Smith - Canadian Hydrographic Service
When Captain James Cook sailed into St. John’s, Newfoundland in 1762, his navigation tools were the heavens above and good luck.
He was a surveyor and a cartographer and the first to chart the treacherous and jagged coast around Newfoundland and Labrador.
He spent five summer seasons here from 1762-1767. During that time, he produced the first large-scale accurate charts and several volumes of Sailing Directions for parts of the island’s ...
