{"id":184134,"date":"2023-08-31T17:18:07","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T17:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/?p=184134"},"modified":"2023-09-05T11:53:54","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T11:53:54","slug":"surveying-the-pribilof-islands-from-pathfinder-to-fairweather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/surveying-the-pribilof-islands-from-pathfinder-to-fairweather\/","title":{"rendered":"Surveying the Pribilof Islands, from Pathfinder to Fairweather"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Lt. Taylor Krabiel<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In the 1950s, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) Pathfinder<\/em> surveyed the Pribilof Islands with the latest technologies to chart previously unsurveyed waters and bring the islands into a common datum with the mainland. Fast forward 71 years and NOAA Ship Fairweather<\/em> continues this work. Despite the decades and technologies that separate the two ships, they share many commonalities in their mission and their surveying techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

USC&GS Pathfinder<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"A
A photograph of USS Pathfinder (AGS-1) enroute to Okinawa where she sustained a kamikaze hit but survived to enter Tokyo Bay at the end of hostilities. Credit: U.S. Navy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pathfinder <\/em>was launched on 11 January 1942, christened by the granddaughter of the President of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt Boettinger. The ship was originally built as a replacement for the previous Pathfinder<\/em> for the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, the oldest scientific organization in the United States and predecessor to NOAA. Instead, she was transferred and commissioned to the U.S. Navy on 31 August 1942, to support the war effort in the Pacific during WWII. Throughout WWII, she charted the course for the U.S. Pacific fleet, enduring over 50 bombing raids as well as a kamikaze attack at Okinawa, Japan. She was not only equipped with the latest hydrographic and geodetic technology, but also had a full printing press aboard, making her a \u2018one stop shop\u2019 for nautical charting and the first U.S. ship to publish charts for the fleet it supported. The ship earned the saying ‘the Road to Tokyo was paved with Pathfinder charts.<\/em>‘ After WWII, the ship returned to the US Coast and Geodetic Survey and spent 25 years surveying in the North Pacific Ocean, Bering Sea, throughout Alaska, and the Hawaiian Islands, before she was deactivated and retired in 1971.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/td>Pathfinder<\/em><\/strong><\/td>Fairweather<\/em><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Year built<\/strong><\/td>1942<\/td>1968<\/td><\/tr>
Length, beam, draft (feet)<\/strong><\/td>229, 39, 16<\/td>231, 41, 15.5<\/td><\/tr>
Top speed (knots)<\/strong><\/td>14<\/td>13<\/td><\/tr>
Crew size<\/strong><\/td>158<\/td>~35 (originally >60)<\/td><\/tr>
Sonars used<\/strong><\/td>Single ping fathometer; the acoustic sensor of the Dorsey Fathometer (model 808)<\/td>Multibeam sonar; Kongsberg EM2040 and EM712<\/td><\/tr>
Services<\/strong><\/td>USC&GS 1941-42
US Navy 1942-46
USC&GS 1946-1971<\/td>		USC&GS 1963-1970
NOAA 1970-89
Decommissioned 1989-2004
NOAA 2004-present<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Surveying the Pribilofs<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"A
A photograph of USC&GS Pathfinder (AGS-1), USC&GS Explorer (II) and other survey ships leaving Union Lake, Seattle, Washington in 1951. The ship would steam for the Pribilof islands and begin work that year on the four-year survey. Credit: NOAA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1951, Pathfinder<\/em> arrived in the Pribilof Islands with only blank charts of St. George and St. Paul Islands from the 19th century. From 1951 to 1954, Pathfinder<\/em> led a three-survey ship mission in the Bering Sea and Pribilof Islands to chart soundings on blank charts and bring the region into a common datum with the mainland. To accomplish this, Pathfinder<\/em> was equipped with the latest in custom-built equipment\u2014a fathometer. The ship would often anchor in protected areas and deploy its small boats to survey near shore and uncharted areas. Further offshore and in between the islands, the ship was utilized to conduct surveys, as this was deeper and safe enough for the ship. The Pathfinder<\/em> would deploy several shore parties before ever producing a single sounding in order to create tidal references, geodetic datums, and land and sea-based references for the ship and launches. All of this required significant time and effort and is partly why Pathfinder<\/em> carried a complement of over 100 crew members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen working on a combined project where ship and launches were programmed to do hydrography, a survey ship such as PATHFINDER would anchor in a protected area as close to the general working area as possible. Launch and other small boat parties would then be dispatched to work ashore or close to shore. The ship might then weigh anchor and do hydrography at the outer limits of the project, returning to pick up the small boat parties.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\u2014Pathfinder: Recollections of Those Who Served 1942-1971<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A photograph of an unidentified crewman returning to PATHFINDER in the bow of a whaleboat off of St. Paul, Alaska 1953. Credit: Jack Scherting\/NOAA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By the end of 1954, the ship had successfully brought the islands into a modern bathymetric and geodetic era. This data would be used for safe navigation by thousands of vessels for fishing and transit for decades to come. The next time a platform would survey the islands was in the early 2000\u2019s by light detection and ranging (LIDAR)<\/a> which only covered a small fraction of what the Pathfinder <\/em>surveyed, and a limited survey of St. George Island\u2019s Zapadni Bay in 2013. The Pathfinder<\/em> would go on to be retired in 1971, being replaced by multiple new builds including NOAA Ship Fairweather<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t