To back up efforts by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in Washington, the Hydrographic Office's USA-based liaison officer requested up-to-date charts from the Office's HQ in Taunton for disaster relief planning and operational use by the US Navy.
The Caribbean island was rocked by an earthquake on 12 January 2010 and charts in particular were needed for the city of Port-au-Prince.
The British Admiralty chart of the harbour, BA 466, was fortunately already in progress; however, this needed to be accelerated to include the latest picture and post-earthquake imagery.
Staff pulled out all the stops to release the new edition for operational use, ahead of its formal publication date, within two days.
This was e-mailed to the US late on 15 January 2010 and also to the Dutch and Colombian navies, who were also sending vessels to assist with the aid efforts.
It was a true team effort and the Hydrographic Office's staff were only too pleased to be able to help with the relief work. As Austin Capsey, imagery analyst, said:
"Even though you are nearly 7,000km away it gives you great satisfaction knowing that the specialist skills you use in your job really make a difference to others in need."
The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, which is part of the Ministry of Defence, has been charting the world's oceans for more than 200 years with the primary aim of providing navigational services for the Royal Navy and merchant mariners to save and protect lives at sea. In addition, it also serves the small craft and leisure mariners and provides a range of consultancy services.