History

Carl F. Ehlers

junior hydrographic and geodetic engineer, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey · active 1929

Arrived at Ocean City in late June 1929 to take the preliminary steps on a topographic survey of the coastline from Ocean City north to Lewes and a hydrographic survey from Fenwick Island Light southward — the first survey of this coast since the nineteenth century, with Ocean City as the parties' headquarters. His party was to erect permanent towers and signals for hydrographic control and to relocate the old survey marks where possible. On 9 November 1929 he was found dead in a field three miles from Salisbury; he was about 28 and was said to be a resident of Ogden, Iowa. The Evening Star's report of the state's attorney's finding is truncated in the surviving page OCR.

In the record (2)

  1. 1929

    Lieut. Carl Ehlers, chief of the Coast Survey subparty working out of Ocean City, is found dead in a field three miles from Salisbury on 9 November.

    'Lieut. Carl Ehlers of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, who was assigned as chief of a subparty of the survey organization, working out of Ocean City, Md., was found dead 3 miles from here shortly before noon today. Ehlers, about 28 years old, was said to be a resident of Ogden, Iowa. State's Attorney Levin C. Bailey, following an investigation, said that Ehlers' death appeared …' — the Evening Star's special dispatch from Salisbury of 9 November 1929 breaks off there in the surviving page OCR.

    Four months after he arrived to chart the coast, the man in charge of the survey party was found dead in a field. The state's attorney had reached a conclusion, and this pass could not read it.

    Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.

    United States Coast and Geodetic Survey

    Source · checked 2026-08-06

  2. 1929

    The Coast and Geodetic Survey makes Ocean City its headquarters for the first survey of this coastline since the nineteenth century.

    With the arrival in late June 1929 of Carl F. Ehlers, junior hydrographic and geodetic engineer of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, preliminary steps were taken on a topographic survey of the coastline from Ocean City, Md., northward to Lewes, together with a hydrographic survey from Fenwick Island Light southward, to begin on the arrival of the survey ships Lydonia (C. G. Madison commanding) and Ranger (R. L. Schoppe commanding). Ehlers's party was to erect many permanent towers and signals for hydrographic control and, where possible, to locate the old survey marks. 'The last survey made along this coastline was in the nineteenth century so that it is expected the examination of the shoals and questionable spots will show considerable change over the charts of this area now being generally used. Ocean City will be the headquarters of the survey parties.'

    The federal government came to measure the beach. Ocean City had argued about jetties, inlets and shoaling for a decade on the strength of charts drawn before the town existed, and the campaign has been chasing Senator Goldsborough's 1925 bill to survey Sinepuxent Bay ever since. This is not that bill; it is the survey arriving anyway, and on a bigger scale.

    The BeachOcean City Inlet & JettyUnited States Coast and Geodetic Survey

    Source · checked 2026-08-06