I've been looking for the "survey" mentioned on the page shown here, ever since I found this short paragraph in the Navy's RECORD OF MISCELLANEOUS GUNS about 20 years ago
The report is apparently entitled "Report of Ordnance Survey, Commodore Hitchcock, President (?), May 1, 1869" or something very similar.
This is an extremely important document, kind of a "Rosetta Stone" for the huge collection of odd weapons the Navy had stored at the Washington Navy Yard in 1869. The Record mentioned has brief descriptions of many of these weapons, but from the wording of the paragraph, the "survey" contains a comprehensive list, with more data on the various pieces. Since the majority of the pieces listed in the Record were loaned, donated, sold, melted down or otherwise disposed of, the "survey" would provide a priceless source of information on types of weapons, particularly Confederate, foreign, and experimental, which are now extinct, at least in the US.
I've talked to some folks at the Naval Historical Center, some at the Navy Library, and some at the National Archives, and no one knows anything about this document.
I'm fairly familiar with National Archives Record Group 74, records of the Bureau of Naval Ordnance, and I've found no such document listed in the preliminary inventory. However some people have suggested I look in RG45, and RG181.
If anyone has found this document or can tell me where to look, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Sometimes these rare documents surprise me when I find they've been published in Congressional documents or annual departmental reports, so I need to exhaust those sources as well, but after about 20 years with no luck, I need some help or new ideas.
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