Maps Matter
Nov. 20, 1943— Unusually low tides caused the military disaster at the island of Tarawa in the South Pacific. Landing crafts filled with soldiers became stranded on a coral reef 800 feet from the beach. Forced to wade ashore in waist-deep water, the men tried to survive the hail of machine gun and artillery fire and avoid drowning. 1,000 soldiers perished in the attempt and another 2,000 were wounded. The vast number of casualties shocked the entire nation.
Outdated nautical charts used to plan the invasion caused the agony at Tarawa. It was painfully clear—the lack of current knowledge of oceanographic features presented serious issues for military missions in the South Pacific.
The government needed hydrographers—scientists who research and produce detailed plans of seabeds, harbors and waterways showing depths, shapes and contours. The Navy invited marine biologist Dr. Mary Sears to join JANIS (Joint Army Navy Intelligence Studies) in 1943 to lead a group of scientists in the oceanography section. She was commissioned as a lieutenant junior grade in the Navy Reserve WAVES (Women Activated for Voluntary Emergency Service).
Acquiring accurate information proved difficult as U.S. survey ships had not been allowed in Japanese waters for decades. Sears and her team scoured libraries and found detailed information to aid in the creation of accurate maps of the South Pacific.
The Hydrographic Office prepared and published maps and charts required for navigation. By mid 1943, the office was printing more than two million charts each month. The office went from a peacetime facility with less than 200 employees to a vast organization in a new building that employed over 1,800 people, many of them Navy WAVES. Hydrographic Office records include around 90,000 published charts. About 9,000 of these were printed during WWII. Specialty charts included maps designed for rafts and lifeboats. These maps were 26” x 36”, printed on yellow nylon, and waterproof. Used to catch rain for drinking water, as sun protection, as a distress signal, and strong enough for use as a small sail, they kept many stranded soldiers alive.
Mary Sears and her team successfully predicted tide times, analyzed undersea conditions for submarines, and identified landing beaches. They saved countless lives and changed the course of the war in the Pacific. Read more about Mary Sears in my friend Catherine Musemeche’s terrific book Lethal Tides: Mary Sears and the Marine Scientists Who Helped Win WWII.
Lucy wrote home in October 1943, “My work is in the Hydrographic Office, and there is only one—in Suitland, Maryland. Hydro is an enviable working place because the officers here are more lenient than on most stations. I suppose that is because most people here are artists. It does feel good to know my work is essential, that an error on my part would be drastic, and that my good work means victory is that much closer. It’s really aerial navigation, the charting of waters, but includes so awfully many departments, every one as interesting as can be. That is absolutely all I can say about Hydro, much as I’d like to explain.”
Featured photo: WAVE Mary Palmquist adds features to a nautical chart. This is the kind of work Lucy Berkey did. It was very hard on the eyes!