Casper M. Durgin, Chief, Division of Charts, passed away suddenly on Saturday, March 11, 1950, at Suburban Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland. Services will be at the S.H. Hines Company Funeral Home, 2901 14th Street, N.W., on Wednesday, March 15, at 11:00 A.M.

Captain Durgin was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1896, and was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard. His entire professional career had been with the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Since 1946, Captain Durgin had served as Chief of the Division of Charts of the Survey after serving from 1945 to 1946, as Assistant Chief of the Division. His assignments in the field included geodetic operations in approximately 20 states. His duties also included service as Commanding Officer of survey ships in the coastal waters of the United States, Alaska, and the Philippines.

From 1934 to 1939, he was Chief of the Aeronautical Chart ranch and it was during this time that the entire United States was completely covered by sectional charts. In the winter of 1923-24, Captain Durgin completed a first-order traverse from International Falls to Namakan Lake, Minnesota, over the lakes of the International Boundary between Minnesota and Canada.

Captain Durgin was co-author of the Manual of First Order Traverse. In 1943 and 1944, he saw service with the Navy in the Aleutians area on the staff of the Commander, Alaskan sector and the Commandant, 17th Naval District. Captain Durgin was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, Society of American Military Engineers, and other scientific organizations. He was the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Charts, Committee on Standards (Surveys) of the Institute of Navigation.

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? Vol 18, No.1, 3/14/1950