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Edmund
Blunt
the first and oldest assistant in the survey of the coast, died
on September 2, 1866,
at his residence, near the city of New York in the 67th year of
his age. The conspicuous services of Mr. Blunt deserve more than
a mere expression of personal regret for the loss of an able associate.
Since the organization of the Coast Survey he had acted an important
part in earning, by the extend of his labors and the accuracy
of his results, the reputation which the work has sustained for
efficiency and precision. Inheriting from his father a strong
inclination for hydrographic pursuits, and commencing in early
boyhood the practice of his profession, his entire life may be
said to have been devoted to the security and extension of our
commerce by determining and describing the dangers in its path.
The law of Congress which provided for the survey of the coast
did not take full effect until 1832. Previous to that date the
charts of our coast were based upon the early and cursory surveys
of Des Barres and others, occasionally corrected by detached surveys
in pursuance of special acts of Congress, or by private enterprise.
Foremost in this laudable work was the father of the subject of
the present notice, Edmund M. Blunt, who, in addition to the Coast
Pilot, compiled and published at his suggestion in 1796, undertook
hydrographic surveys and examinations. In these latter operations
his sons took an active part.
Before he was 18 years of age, Edmund Blunt made a survey of
the Harbor of New York. In the years 1819-20 he assisted in
the sounding of the Great Bahama Bank route to the Gulf of Mexico;
afterwards in the survey of Nantucket and George's shoal. In
1824 he surveyed the seacoast in the vicinity of New York Bay;
and between the years 1828 and 1830 the shores and shoals of
Long Island Sound. Early in 1833 Blunt was appointed an assistant
in the Coast Survey, that work, after a suspension of 15 years,
having been then resumed. This appointment enabled him to bring
to the performance of the duties assigned to him, in the systematic
operations about to be undertaken, the skill and experience
acquired during his previous career. In subsequent years, as
the geodetic survey advanced, the name of Assistant Blunt became
in succession identified in its records with the triangulation
of Long Island Sound and of the adjacent coast; with the triangulation
of Delaware Bay and River; with the measurement of a base line
for verifying the primary triangulation completed previous to
1844; with various detached surveys between New York and Boston;
with the triangulation of chesapeake Bay; and with that of the
valley of the Hudson between New York City and Albany.
The death of Mr. Blunt was sudden and unexpected. He retained
to the last day of his life the vigor and activity which had
marked his early manhood. In field operations he laid the basis
for the excellent work which he performed by untiring search,
and by adopting in all cases the means suggested in a comprehensive
review of the ground features, however extended the area might
be, designated for triangulation. Concerned chiefly in the primary
work, on parts of the coast presenting all the natural difficulties
in the way of observing over extended lines of sight, he brought
into use many of the expedients now regularly employed in similar
localities. The regard for his profession, which seemed to strengthen
as time drew on, was befitting in one who had largely shared
from the beginning in the labors pertaining to the geodetic
survey of the coast.
Prompt, energetic and successful in the field, and at all times
devoted to the interests and credit of the work, the example
of Mr. Blunt commanded the respect, as his kind and genial disposition
gained the regards of all his associated on the survey.
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