NORFOLK, VA. -- Edward Burr was Norfolk's sixth commander. While in command of the Norfolk U.S. Engineers Office, Capt. Edward Burr oversaw improvements to the inland water route (Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal) from Norfolk, Virginia to Albemarle Sound, North Carolina. These improvements included logging and dredging operations on the North Landing River, as well as straightening the river and making it 80 feet wide and 9 feet deep. The Norfolk Office also removed multiple sunken vessels near Thimble Shoals and off the coast of Cape Charles, Virginia. The Norfolk staff performed a preliminary examination of the harbor at Petersburg,Va. and the Appomattox River, and found the plan to divert the waters of the old North Chanel above Petersburg to prevent shoaling of the harbor and navigable channel not worthy of improvement.