n ^^^ |i| ij'/, ! |i|''i, :S"'iiill, I K±A T x::^. MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY THE PATHFINDER OF THE SEAS 6-C /-4 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY THE PATHFINDER OF THE SEAS By CHARLES LEE LEWIS Associate Professor United States Naval Academy WOOD HOLE % MASS ILLUSTRATED 1927 THE UNITED STATES NAVAL INSTITUTE ANNAPOLIS Copyright, 1927 The United States Naval Institute AnnapolisJ Maryland H. <<v ( wooc HOLE MAS£ TO MY WIFE LOUISE QUARLES LEWIS Richmond, Virginia. October 25, 1927. It is eminently appropriate that a life of Com- modore Matthew Fontaine Maury should be written in the environment of Annapolis, and by a professor in the United States Naval Academy, and The Maury Memorial Association is deeply appreciative of this splendid tribute to the name and fame of one of America's greatest naval officers and benefactors. President, The Maury Association. JTW- A ; Wide World Photo Commander Richard Evelyx Byrd, U, S. Navy (Retired) Who has written the Foreword of this biography FOREWORD I believe that the most instructive form of reading is biography. In the story of a man's Hfe one can see in quick review the struggle that man went through to attain or to fail to attain his heart's desire. For the professional man, life stories of his colleagues and predecessors focus down to the particular problems of the profession. This is essentially the case with the story of a man like Maury. As a naval officer, Maury's work will always remain outstanding. He was one of our pioneer investigators of the geography of the sea and the physics of the air. And at the same time he never lost sight of the intrinsic needs of his Service. Since travel in the present age has become so common Maury may be looked upon as one of our great bene- factors. His professional work turned out to be of happily wide application, not only for the seafaring man, but for the flier. As an inspirational character Maury was also a note- worthy American. His life was marked by that per- sistent industry peculiar to the successful research worker. There is little indication that he ever saw ahead of him immediate reward of any great size. But his toil was ever directly applied for the adventure of discovering something new or different in the maritime fields in which he worked. Because I am soon to start on my own expedition towards the South Pole I am particularly interested in a letter Maury wrote under date of August 20, 1860, viii FOREWORD in which he said: "I have reason to believe that there is, about the South Pole, a comparatively mild climate. The unexplored regions there embrace an area equal in extent to about one-sixth of all the known land on the surface of the earth. I am quietly seeking to create in the minds of some an interest upon the subject, hoping thereby to foster a desire in right quarters for an Antarctic expedition." Richard E. Byrd Commander, U. S. Navy (Retired) September 26, 1927 H m WOOD HOLE MASS PUBLISHER'S STATEMENT Measured by man's calendar it has been a long stretch of time since he first ventured forth in crude canoes on the waters skirting his early habitations. The art of handling ships—seamanship and naviga- it ships tion—began before man could read or write ; was that first quickened his imagination and enabled him to measure his skill against Nature's elements and released him from the encirclement of small operations. Western Europe and its civilization saved themselves from being pushed into the Atlantic by the flanking movement afforded by ships—increased knowledge of navigation. No single individual has done more for his fellow man in lessening the hazards of navigation than has Matthew Fontaine Maury. For the safe navigation of aircraft the world is waiting today for another Maury. Aerology is in its infancy. No other life of this distinguished naval officer and scientist has been published in America and the author has spent the greater part of four years in its prepar- ation. To Commander Byrd the author and the publisher are indebted for the Foreword. To the Hydrographic Office, Navy Department, ap- preciation for assistance and advice rendered is expressed. That Maury's fame and honor may ever grow greater and that his life's work may be an inspiration for a X PUBLISHER S STATEMENT future Pathfinder of the Air appears a sufficient reason for the publication of this biography by his brother officers of the Navy. United States Naval Institute September 27, 1927 wooc HOLJ MASS PREFACE This biography is based chiefly upon the Maury Pa- pers, comprising letters, diaries, scientific notebooks, and other manuscripts, which were presented to the United States Government in 1912 by Maury's only living child, Mrs. Mary Maury Werth, and other descendants, and then deposited in the Division of Manuscripts, Library of Congress. Other valuable sources are the letter books, numbering many volumes, in the Office of the Superintendent of the United States Naval Observa- tory in Washington, and the official papers relating to Maury in the Navy Department Library. Miscel- laneous Maury letters are to be found in the New York Public Library, the Public Library of the City of Boston, the United States Naval Academy Museum, the Peabody Institute Library of Baltimore, the Virginia State Li- brary, the Virginia Historical Society Library, and the Yale University Library. Mrs. C. Alphonso Smith, Raleigh, North Carolina, has one Maury letter and some fifty others, written by contemporaries in reference to the Maury Testimonial which was presented to him in Eng- land after the Civil War. Of great importance, also, are Maury's own voluminous writings, and the numerous references to him in the periodicals and newspapers of his time. For assistance in gathering material for this biography I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to various mem- bers of the Maury family. In the first place, I wish to mention the "Life of Maury" by his daughter, Diana Fontaine Maury Corbin, which was of considerable help Xll PREFACE to me. Of his living descendants, Mrs. James Parmelee, a granddaughter, of Washington, D. C, and Mrs. Mat- thew Fontaine Maury, Jr., a daughter-in-law, of Cin- cinnati, Ohio gave me much assistance. Mrs. Werth of Richmond, Virginia, and her two daughters, Mrs. N. Montgomery Osborne of Norfolk, Virginia, and Mrs. Littleton Fitzgerald of Richmond, very patiently an- swered my numerous questions and furnished me inter- esting and very desirable information. The list of all the other persons who have helped me, in one way or another, in the writing of this book would be too long to set down in a preface ; but among the many I wish to single out by name the following: Mr. J. C. Fitzpatrick, Assistant Chief, Division of Manuscripts, Library of Congress; Captain Edwin T. Pollock, U. S. Navy, Superintendent, and Mr. William D. Horigan, Librarian, of the United States Naval Observatory; Captain Dudley W. Knox, U. S. Navy (Retired), Superintendent, and Miss Nannie Dornin Barney, Archivist, of the Naval Records and Library of the Navy Department; Mr. Andrew Keogh, Librarian, Yale University Library; Mr. H. M. Lyden- berg. Reference Librarian, New York Public Library; Mr. Charles F. D. Belden, Director of the Public Library of the City of Boston; Miss Helen C. Bates, Reference Librarian, Detroit Public Library; Dr. William G. Stanard, Corresponding Secretary and Librarian, Vir- ginia Historial Society; Mr. Edward V. Valentine, Acting President of the Virginia Historical Society; Dr. H. R. Mcllwaine, Librarian of the Virginia State Li- brary; R. H. Crockett, Esq., Miss Susie Gentry, and Mr. Park Marshall, Vice President of the Tennessee Histori- cal Society,—all of Franklin, Tennessee; Mr. John PREFACE Xlli Trotwood Moore, State Librarian and Archivist, and Mr. A. P. Foster, Assistant Librarian and Archivist, Tennessee State Library, Nashville; President A. B. Chandler, Jr., State Teachers College, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Mrs. V. M. Fleming, President of the Kenmore Association, Fredericksburg; Mr. John W. Herndon, Alexandria, Virginia; Harold T. Clark, Esq., of Squire, Sanders and Demsey, Counsellors at Law, Cleveland, Ohio; William M. Robinson, Jr., Augusta, Georgia; Mr. Gaston Lichstenstein, Corresponding Sec- retary of the Matthew Fontaine Maury Association, Richmond; and, last but by no means least, Assistant Professor Richard Johnson Duval, Librarian, Mr. Lewis H. Bolander, Assistant Librarian, and Mr. James M. Saunders, Cataloguer, of the United States Naval Academy Library, Annapolis, Maryland. C. L. L. Annapolis, Maryland, "When I became old enough to reflect, it was the aim at which all my energies were directed to make myself a useful man. I soon found that occupation, for some useful end or other, was the true secret of happiness." (Maury to Rutson Maury, August 31, 1S40.) "It's the talent of industry that makes a man. I don't think that so much depends upon intellect as is generally supposed; but industry and steadiness of purpose, they are the things." {Maury to Frank Minor, July 25, 1855.) CONTENTS CHAPTER I. His Early Years 1 II. His Three Cruises 10 III. He Resorts to the Pen 26 IV. His Astronomical Work 44 V. His Wind and Current Charts 51 VI. His Physical Geography of the Sea 66 VII. His Extra-professional Interests 85 VIII. His Treatment by the ''Retiring Board" 107 IX. Shadows of Coming Troubles 118 X. As His Friends and Family Knew Him before the War 128 XL His Part in the Civil War: In Virginia 143 XII. His Part in the Civil War: In England 168 XIII. With Maximilian in Mexico. 186 XIV. Reunited with His Family in England 202 XV.