General  Development  of  the  G.H.I.  during  1961

Seite  101  -

The  first  difficulties  with  respect  to  structure  and  organization  being
overcome,  the  G.H.I.  having  been  installed  into  the  Government's  machinery
of  the  Federal  German  Republic,  and  final  corrections  in  the  staff  situation
been  made,  the  years  following  1950  were  marked  with  intensive  and  systematic
international  detail-work,  in  short,  with  consolidation.  For  this  several
examples  can  be  given.
In  1945,  by  the  end  of  the  war,  65  sailing  directions  were  valid  in  the
sailing  direction  work,  some  of  them  already  superannuated.  Of  these  are
again  already  available  26  newly  revised  pilots.  Another  2  were  provided
with  new  supplements  and  thus  brought  up  to  date.  In  1961  new  editions  of
as  many  as  4  pilots  were  published.  While  in  1946'the  notices  to  mariners
contained  only  about  1900  articles,  they  amounted  to  5400  in  1961.  At  the
end  of  the  war  the  list  of  light-  and  signal  stations  consisted  of  13  volumes,
today  it  could  again  be  brought  to  14  volumes,  being  newly  issued  each
year.
At  the  end  of  the  war  the  chart  work  (apart  from  general  charts  and  those
thought  for  military  purposes  published  during  the  war  by  the  Oberkommando
der  Kriegsmarine)  amounted  to  1017  chart  numbers;  today  to  930.  It  is  only
natural  that  when  "Neue  Ausgaben"  and  "Neue  Karten"  are  published  the  stress
is  laid  on  European  waters.  Yet,  the  working  up  of  far  off-non-territorial
sea  areas  in  which  German  ships  are  operating  is  steadily  making  progress.
This  applies  mostly  to  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  sea  areas  these  are,
which  in  1962  will  probably  be  covered  by  a  sufficiently  large  number  of  German ­
  charts  and  plans  of  harbours,  so  .that  for  the  eastern  part  of  the  Pacific
this  work  may  be  considered  as  being  concluded.  The  second  concern  was  to
start  on  the  condensation  of  German  charts  covering  the  western  Pacific.
Along  with  this  extension  of  the  German  chart  work  goes  the  substitution
of  copper  for  transparent  foils,  which  frequently  requires  a  complete  revision ­
  of  the  charts.
In  surveying  the  sea  of  altogether  33  areas  of  the  North  Sea  in  which
periodical  control  measurements  ought  to  be  carried  out  only  14  could  be
worked  or  be  started  on  or  those  not  completed  last  year  be  brought  to  an
end.  In  the  Baltic  Sea  whire  at  present  they  number  20  only  3  were  worked  up.
All  control  measurements  of  the  year  under  review,  save  2,  have  as  compared
with  the  desired  routine  number  (in  the  North  Sea  every  2-3  years,  in  the
Baltic  every  3-4  or  10-15  years)  run  into  delay  by  one  or  more  years.  This
is  a  draw-back  which  since  many  years  the  German  Hydrographic  Institute  has
been  eager  to  catch  up.  As  to  the  search  of  wrecks  in  coastal  regions  and  on