It is perhaps appropriate, on this the exact 187th anniversary of the death of Admiral Lord Nelson at Trafalgar and in the year in which so many celebrations have taken place to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival somewhere in the West Indies, to consider the progress which has been made towards international co-operation and achievements in hydrographic surveying and nautical cartography, particularly since the formation of the International Hydrographic Bureau in 1921, and to look at the problems facing international hydrography in the immediate future.
