Research Needed - H.O Chart #1198

[Ric Gillespie]

As you may know, we have a copy of the chart the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor used to manage the search for Earhart.  It's in the San Bruno, CA  National Archives.  Unfortunately, the photocopy our researcher made of the chart cut off the top part so we don't know what chart it is.  My suspicion is that it's H.O. (Hydrographic Office) #1198 and it's probably the same chart Noonan was using.  If so, it explains why none of the post-loss messages mention the name of the island.  The chart ends just north of Gardner.  Earhart and Noonan literally flew off their map. The Navy had to extend the chart by hand to plot the Pan Am radio bearings crossing at Gardner.   We need to find a copy of H.O. #1198 to confirm that the Navy search management chart is H.O #1198.

[Harbert William Davenport]

This is what I have found so far, for Chart 1198, but it is not what we are hoping for:

Bookmark, Share or Download this Image Directly: https://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/historicals/preview/image/1198-4-1890

Image: 1198-04-1890
Title: ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN
Type: Nautical Chart
Year: 1945
Scale: 1:15000
Publisher: NOAA-NOS

[Ric Gillespie]

This is what I have found so far, for Chart 1198, but it is not what we are hoping for:

Bookmark, Share or Download this Image Directly: https://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/historicals/preview/image/1198-4-1890

Image: 1198-04-1890
Title: ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN
Type: Nautical Chart
Year: 1945
Scale: 1:15000
Publisher: NOAA-NOS

Hmmmm... that would explain the attached.  So the chart of the north central Pacific is not H.O. 1198.  Gotta figure out what chart that is.

[Jerry Germann]

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822008699613;view=1up;seq=37

Available maps for purchase during the time of the world flight and their prices are listed in this sales catalog. Maps 823-826 would be interesting to view. I am currently looking for an image of any and all of these.

( link credit due a friend) 

[Arthur Rypinski]

So, I have looked in the obvious places, and haven't found any comparable images.  I would guess, however, that the chart is HO 5556, "Meteorological Plotting Chart of the North Pacific Ocean,"  which has a 1930 edition, but was still in service (with revisions) as late as 1948.   I have seen several references to this chart, but not the chart itself.  The contemporary charts are NGA 52, NGA 525, and NGA 526.

adr

[Arthur Rypinski]

Okay, wrong again.  I found an image of a 1935 "meteorological plotting chart of the North Pacific Ocean" in Purdue's Earhart archive, here:
http://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/cdm/ref/collection/earhart/id/553
It is a lambert conformal projection, not a Mercator, and much smaller scale. 
adr

[Ric Gillespie]

For the first attempt flight from Oakland to Honolulu Noonan used "Pan American System Pacific Division - California-Hawaii - (east-half)" and "Pan American System Pacific Division - California-Hawaii - (west-half)"
For the second attempt South Atlantic crossing he used a U.S. government chart "North Atlantic Ocean - Southeastern Sheet - 956a".

The map the Navy used to manage the search (what I call the "Murfin Map" after 14th Naval District Commandant ADM. Orin Murfin) has as its western limit 139° E Longitude.  The eastern limit is 156° W Longitude.  The southern limit is 2° 30' S.  We don't have the northern edge but the highest latitude we have is 23° 30' N.

Pan American's first survey flight to New Zealand was in March 1937 so it seems unlikely that Pan Am had a Pacific Division map for Hawaii-Auckland in May when AE and FN left on the second attempt.
Based on the list of charts Jerry Germann provided, my best guess is that the Murfin Map is #825 South Pacific Ocean, Sheet III.
Whatever map it is, it may have been the only chart available that showed Howland Island and was suitable for use in aerial navigation.  Noonan may also have had "#826 South Pacific Ocean, Western Part" to cover the first part of the route to Howland.
"North Atlantic Ocean - Southeastern Sheet - 956a" isn't listed in the catalog Jerry found, so that's a bit of a puzzle.

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

... my best guess is that the Murfin Map is #825 South Pacific Ocean, Sheet III.

To me (and to Wikipedia, FWIW), "South Pacific" means "south of the equator."  "South Pacific Ocean, the southern part of the Pacific Ocean, usually the area south of the equator."

[Ric Gillespie]

... my best guess is that the Murfin Map is #825 South Pacific Ocean, Sheet III.

To me (and to Wikipedia, FWIW), "South Pacific" means "south of the equator."  "South Pacific Ocean, the southern part of the Pacific Ocean, usually the area south of the equator."

Good point (it's been a long day)  Maybe "#528 North Pacifc Ocean Middle Part" is a better guess.

[Arthur Rypinski]

Ric-


I think its 528.  Try this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-Era-Nautical-Chart-528-NORTH-PACIFIC-OCEAN-Aleutian-Hawaiian-Caroline-Is-/252532882700?hash=item3acc21fd0c:g:VxoAAOSwIwhWS6QX

adr

[Ric Gillespie]

Ric-


I think its 528.  Try this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-Era-Nautical-Chart-528-NORTH-PACIFIC-OCEAN-Aleutian-Hawaiian-Caroline-Is-/252532882700?hash=item3acc21fd0c:g:VxoAAOSwIwhWS6QX

adr

Thanks Art.  Close but no cigar.  528 stops at the equator and the Murfin Map goes to 2° 30' S.  Damn.

[Arthur Rypinski]

The Murfin Map is odd.  Notice that there are no soundings, no lines of magnetic declination, and the lat/lon grid is unusually dense for the scale.  The Hawaiian chain is off of the piece of the map we see, but the Marianas are present.    OTOH, the typefaces and place names are the same as 528.  I can't work out the scale of the Murfin map, but it is in the neighborhood of 528.

Maybe the Murfin chart is a small piece of a much larger chart covering the whole Northern Pacific.  Alternatively, maybe the Murfin map isn't a proper nautical chart at all, but a "plotting chart" or "planning chart,"  printed in quantity, and marked up for planning operations, or plotting radio bearings, or whatever. 

If you search on "chart" in the Purdue Library, you will see several "meteorological plotting charts," each containing hand-drawn pressure isobars, etc to illustrate an individual forecast.

adr

[Kurt Kummer]

Let me know if you think a personal trip to the National Archives in San Bruno would be helpful.  I'm not far from there.

[Ric Gillespie]

Let me know if you think a personal trip to the National Archives in San Bruno would be helpful.  I'm not far from there.

Thanks Kurt.  It may come to that.

[Ric Gillespie]

The Murfin Map is odd.  Notice that there are no soundings, no lines of magnetic declination, and the lat/lon grid is unusually dense for the scale.

The absence of soundings may be an indication that it's an aviation chart. The search was managed from Fleet Air Base, Pearl Harbor.

  The Hawaiian chain is off of the piece of the map we see, but the Marianas are present.

The main islands of the Hawaiian chain are there, extreme top right corner.

Maybe the Murfin chart is a small piece of a much larger chart covering the whole Northern Pacific.

Nope.  The edge we have - east bottom and west - have printed latitude and longitude numbers.  They are definitely the edges of the map.

  Alternatively, maybe the Murfin map isn't a proper nautical chart at all, but a "plotting chart" or "planning chart,"  printed in quantity, and marked up for planning operations, or plotting radio bearings, or whatever. 

It certainly does not seem to be a nautical chart.