Benjamin Sands commanded the ship until 1857 and spent much of the remaining time mapping the Gulf Coast of the United States.
During this time, he wrote:
"I was engaged upon this interesting hydrographic work in the Gulf of Mexico, the fields of my especial surveys being the Florida Keys and the west coast of that state, including Cedar Keys, Tampa Bay and Pensacola Harbor, thence west, taking in the Bay of Biloxi, Chaudeleur Sound, the Deltas of the Mississippi, and the westward thereof, including Atchafalaya Bay and Sabine Pass on the Texas Coast."
Sands and his crew also plotted portions of the Gulf Stream from Florida to Cape Hatteras in 1855, which was of key interest to Superintendent Bache.
Benjamin Sands, like his predecessors, enjoyed a prominent career that included early Coast Survey duty in the 180s and early 1840s and service in the Gulf of Mexico during the Mexican War.
He served with distinction on post-Mexican War Coast Survey duty, including his time on the Walker. Sands' Civil War service was as a captain on blockade squadron duty on the Atlantic and Gulf (and he was at both Battles of Fort Fisher). He also was appointed Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory.
In 1871, he was appointed rear admiral.
--Old B-Runner
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