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Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806–1873) ‘Pathfinder of the Seas’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2009

Charles H. Cotter
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Extract

In Virginia's splendid State House at Richmond there stands a marble bust of Matthew Fontaine Maury, one of Virginia's more eminent natural scientists. It might be a matter for dismay for a mariner to read the inscription below the elegant bust, to the effect that this remarkable man owed his fame to having invented an electric torpedo; Maury's fame stands on a much firmer foundation than this! In 1916 the State Board of Education of Virginia set January 14th as ‘Maury Day’ in honour of its celebrated son, and each year on that day Virginian schoolchildren observe and commemorate his birthday. Because of his service to navigation Matthew Fontaine Maury merits the title ‘Pathfinder of the Seas’.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 75 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1979

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References

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1Brown, R. M. (1944). Bibliography of Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury including a biographical sketch. (Second Edition) Bulletin of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 37, No. 12.Google Scholar
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3Brown, R. M.Op. cit. p. 23.Google Scholar
4Maury, M. F. (1833). On the navigation of Cape Horn. The American Journal of Science and Arts, 26, 43.Google Scholar
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11Ibid. p. 269.Google Scholar
12Corbin, D. F. M.Op. cit. p. 53.Google Scholar
13 See the introduction to the first edition of The Physical Geography of the Sea by M. F. Maury published in 1855.Google Scholar
14 This was the gist of a report to the United States Senate in 1857 accompanying Bill 548.Google Scholar
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17 In the introduction to The Physical Geography of the Sea Maury refers to the remarks made by the President of the British Association at the 24th meeting of the Association held at Liverpool in 1854, in which it was estimated that if the Wind and Currents Charts were extended to the Indian Ocean the annual saving to British commerce, in those waters alone, would amount to between one and two million dollars.Google Scholar
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