Once all the practical work is done there is plenty of work still to do - the Ship's chartroom then becomes a hive of activity as the Dept compiles the Report Of Survey to send to the UK Hydrographic Office. This report is a mass of numbers and would be very hard for a navigator to use. The people at UKHO sort all the information on a given area and present it in a manner that is easy to understand, while at the same time showing all the important information that a navigator might need.
Hydrography Dept. at work
, Courtesy of HMS Endurance
The UK Hydrographic Office maintains a complete set of every single Admiralty chart ever produced, going back over 200 years. As a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Safety of Life at Sea, the UK government is required to ensure the accuracy of its charts, and therefore regularly produces new editions of its charts to keep up to date information available to mariners all over the world.
Hydrographic Surveying
