NOAA 200th Anniversary Video

Office of Coast Survey staff and crew members from the NOAA ships Thomas Jefferson and Rainier took a time out from normal hydrographic survey operations to help film a video celebrating NOAA’s 200th Anniversary. The Thomas Jefferson met up with the film crew in Chincoteague, Virginia to reenact early hydrographic survey work using lead line and sextant. Across the country to the Puget Sound in Washington the crew of the NOAA ship Rainier also met up with a film crew to demonstrate current hydrographic survey operations and install a tide gauge.

Check out the movie here!

This picture shows a sounding vessel with oars--how it would have looked in 1807. The vessel is several hundred yards from shore with a lighthouse in the background.

Picture of NOAA Corps officer working on electronic instrumentation along a rocky shore. Cameraman is filming for 200th anniversary video.

In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson founded the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (as the Survey of the Coast) to provide nautical charts to the maritime community for safe passage into American ports and along our extensive coastline. In 1970, NOAA was established under the Department of Commerce bringing together the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Weather Bureau (founded in 1870), and the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries founded one year later. In 2007, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the establishment of which set in motion a 200-year legacy of science, service, and stewardship.

This is a picture taken during the 200th anniversary video filming. It shows three individuals in the bow of a wooden sounding vessel. One individuals is handling the leadline while the other individuals is reading a sextant. All individuals are wearing 19th century clothing.

This is a picture taken during the 200th anniversary video filming. It shows three individuals in the bow of a wooden sounding vessel. One individuals is handling the leadline while the other individuals is reading a sextant. All individuals are wearing 19th century clothing.

A film crew records a NOAA Corps officer from the Rainier installing a modern tide gauge along the shore of Puget Sound in Washington for the 200th anniversary video.

Crew from the Thomas Jefferson dressed in period garb demonstrate use of lead line and sextant for hydrographic surveying during the filming of the 200th anniversary video.