Matthew Fontaine Maury

American scientist

• Born: January 14, 1806
• Birthplace: Spotsylvania County, Virginia
• Died: February 1, 1873
• Place of death: Lexington, Virginia

A universal scientist, Maury did not limit his endeavors to one field; instead, he researched the land, sea, and air and showed how they are inextricably linked to one another. He brought the study of physical geography and oceanography into the modern age.

Early Life

A descendant of French Huguenots, Matthew Fontaine Maury (mo-ree) was the fourth son in a family of five sons and four daughters. His father, Richard Maury, was an unsuccessful tobacco farmer who was forced, before Matthew reached the age of five, to move his family to Tennessee in search of better land. Matthew’s mother, née Diana Minor, was from a prominent Virginia family of Dutch descent.

Young Matthew grew up in a strict household. His father was a disciplinarian who believed that children must never question an order from a parent and should never speak unless spoken to. The elder Maury wanted his son to become a farmer and could not understand Matthew’s passionate love for books and learning. In 1818, at the age of twelve, the young boy was enrolled in Harpeth Academy for a formal education and studied there until 1825. He proved to be an excellent student in all subjects and showed a particular aptitude for languages. Disappointed by the lack of books at school and at home, Matthew spent much time at his uncle Abram’s nearby house, where books were plentiful. There, Matthew met John Bell, a future United States senator, and Sam Houston, a future governor of Tennessee and military hero. These contacts were to help young Maury later in his naval career.

In 1823, Matthew’s eldest brother, John, contracted yellow fever and died at sea. The twenty-eight-year-old naval lieutenant had served as a role model for Matthew. John’s death caused the grief-stricken father to forbid Matthew to enter West Point, as the young man had desired. Instead, in 1825, Maury contacted then Congressman Houston and requested help in obtaining a naval commission. Richard Maury was so angered that he refused to communicate with his son for many years.

Life’s Work

Matthew was assigned as a midshipman on the frigate Brandywine, bound for France. He had hoped to improve his education aboard the vessel but soon found that he would have to teach himself navigation, because the teacher aboard became impatient with the midshipmen’s lack of interest. During the voyage, Maury realized how inadequate and outdated the navy’s navigational materials were.

In August, 1826, the Brandywine departed New York for a three-year tour around South America. In Chile, Maury was transferred to the Vincennes, which patrolled the western coast of South America in response to the political unrest created in several countries by the wars for independence being waged against Spain. In July, 1828, the Vincennes received orders to circumnavigate the globe, the first American naval vessel to accomplish that two-year mission.

Although Maury loved the life of a sailor, he longed to marry and rear a family. Years before, Maury had fallen in love with Ann Herndon, a distant cousin. They were engaged in the summer of 1831, but the wedding was postponed until 1834, because Matthew received orders to leave on another three-year voyage. (He and his wife had seven children, three boys and four girls.) It was on this passage that he wrote the first of many articles, “On the Navigation of Cape Horn,” published in the American Journal of Science and Arts in July, 1834. He also started writing a new navigation textbook that explained the mathematical principles behind the formulas used to derive longitude. This concept was a departure from the rote method then used to learn navigation. In April, 1836, his book A New Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Navigation was published. It soon became the official textbook for instructing midshipmen in navigation techniques. Partly as a result of the acclaim that this publication received, Maury was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in June, 1836.

Maury was anxious to return to sea duty, but at that time, there were too many officers and not enough ships in the navy. Finally, in 1838, the young sailor was assigned to a vessel surveying harbors on the North Carolina and Georgia coasts. When the survey was completed, Maury was given leave to visit his aging parents. On October 17, 1839, returning to active duty, Maury received a severe fracture of his leg when the stagecoach in which he was riding overturned.

The injury ended Maury’s sailing duties, because it permanently crippled him. During a long period of recovery, he turned to writing articles for the highly respected Southern Literary Messenger, exposing what he considered to be the deteriorating condition in the United States Navy. The articles written in 1840 and 1841, under the pen name “Harry Bluff,” called for a revision in the promotion ranks, a four-year naval academy stressing a curriculum that included languages, the sciences, international law, and mathematics in order to educate properly future naval officers. He also stressed greater efficiency in ship construction. In 1845, the United States Naval Academy was established, a result, in part, of Maury’s articles. The true identity of Harry Bluff became known, and Maury received praise as well as criticism for the publicity he had brought to the navy.

Photographs of Maury show him as a stocky individual, five feet, six inches tall. He was described as having a soft voice with a southern accent, and as a meticulous dresser who walked with a slight limp.

In 1842, Maury was appointed as superintendent of the Depot of Charts and Instruments in Washington, D.C. He was responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the navigational instruments and charts issued to departing navy ships. He soon discovered that most of the navigation charts used by the navy had been compiled by foreigners and were outdated. He therefore began the monumental task of examining old ship logs and calculating prevailing winds, currents, and water temperature conditions for various sailing routes. By 1847, he was able to publish the Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic .

This work provided such accurate navigational information and so reduced the sailing times on commercial sea routes that other nations began requesting copies of Maury’s charts. To keep his charts current, Maury obtained abstract logs from American navy and merchant captains, which contained the latest meteorological observations. Later, he compiled a chart that provided information on the migration patterns and habits of sperm and right whales.

In 1844, Maury was appointed as the first superintendent of the new Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. The observatory studied and recorded astronomical, hydrographical, and meteorological data and phenomena. Maury’s reputation as a scientist had grown greatly, and even though he had not received a college education, the University of North Carolina bestowed an honorary master of arts degree upon him in May, 1847, to honor his contributions to scholarship. In July of 1853, Maury received an honorary law degree from Columbian College (modern George Washington University).

The year 1853 marked the start of the successful Brussels Conference. This meeting was called by the United States to seek the cooperation of the major seafaring nations in a project to exchange marine meteorological data, which Maury used to make new charts of the world’s oceans. In 1854, Cyrus Field consulted Maury regarding the feasibility of laying a transatlantic telegraph cable. Maury had conducted deep-sea soundings and told Field that the project would be possible. After two failures, a short-lived cable did link Europe and the United States, but it was not until 1866 that a final link across the Atlantic was achieved.

By 1854, Maury’s publisher suggested that he should consider writing a popular treatment of his studies of the oceans in order to take advantage of commercial possibilities. In 1855, the first edition appeared under the title Physical Geography of the Sea . It appealed to the general reader and included material on the winds and currents of the sea, temperature data, theories on the circulation of ocean waters, and descriptions of the flora and fauna of the oceans.

For all of Maury’s scientific achievements and fame, both at home and abroad, there was to occur an event that was to spell an end to his scientific research and association with the United States Navy. His home state, Virginia, passed an ordinance of secession on April 17, 1861, five days after forces of the Confederate States of America fired upon Fort Sumter. Maury resigned from the navy on April 20, 1861, offered his services to the governor of Virginia, and was immediately appointed to the Governor’s Executive Council.

Maury started working on plans for the construction of electric and mechanical “torpedoes” (mines) that could be used to break the Union naval blockade of Virginia ports. By July, 1861, Maury had experimented with powder charges and fuse devices that could be used in the construction of mines. On the night of July 7, Maury led a small raiding party in an attack upon the Union blockading fleet in Hampton Roads. The effort did not succeed in sinking any Union ships, because the fuse device would not detonate the two-hundred-pound powder charge in the mine. In June, 1862, however, Maury mined the James River below Richmond with electrically detonated torpedoes, discouraging Union gunboat movement below that city.

In August, 1862, Maury was sent on a successful secret mission to Europe in order to secure ships and munitions for the Confederacy. He also attempted to influence European public opinion to favor the Southern cause. While abroad, Maury continued his investigations of electrical torpedoes.

In May, 1865, Maury was ordered back to the South with torpedoes to be used in the defense of Galveston, Texas. Before he reached Confederate soil, he was informed that the war was over. Maury decided to sail to Mexico and offer his services to Maximilian, the French-supported emperor, because he could not be assured of receiving an amnesty from the United States. He planned to establish a colony for displaced Confederates in Mexico, but the scheme did not succeed.

In March, 1866, Maury traveled to England for a reunion with his wife and decided not to return to Mexico. While in England, he received a doctor of laws degree from Cambridge University. He was offered academic positions at universities in Tennessee and Virginia. (During the war, he had refused offers from Russia and France.)

In 1868, Maury finally accepted a position at the Virginia Military Institute as professor of physics and superintendent of the Physical Survey of Virginia, a project designed to investigate the natural resources of that state and utilize them to improve Virginia’s depressed economic condition. On several occasions after he took the position, other universities attempted to hire Maury away from Virginia, but he remained loyal to his home state, even in peacetime.

By January, 1873, Maury’s health had seriously deteriorated. He attempted to continue a speaking tour, calling for the establishment of a national weather bureau and crop reporting system to aid farmers, but his strong will alone was not enough to sustain his failing body. He died peacefully on February 1, 1873, at his home in Lexington, Virginia.

Significance

During his lifetime, Maury embodied the spirit of nineteenth century America. A zeal for inquiry, discovery, and improvement may be said to have characterized Maury’s America. Nevertheless, he was, perhaps, a man with even stronger commitments and goals than the average person. His inquiring mind spoke of his commitment to discovery. His desire to share his discoveries with ordinary citizens spoke of his commitment to the dissemination of knowledge. His loyalty to Virginia in war and strife spoke of his commitment to a principle, an ideal. Maury’s concern for education was mirrored in the publication of his school geographies and wall maps, designed for elementary school use, and in his attempt to establish an agricultural college at the Virginia Military Institute.

Maury was a self-made man in an era of self-made men. He had no college education in the sciences and was criticized by some university-trained scientists for his lack of formal schooling. (Foreign governments and kings showered Maury with honors and memberships in many learned societies for his efforts in charting the oceans.) However, he possessed the gift of observation and an experimentation-oriented intellect that allowed his successes to surpass those of many of his more formally educated critics.

Maury was not afraid to dream. Goals that some would have thought impossible or too difficult to achieve, Maury readily accomplished. He was a nineteenth century American possessing those attributes that made this country unique among the nations. By showing that determination, patience, and hard work, even in the face of adversity, could bring achievement, his example for Americans of any century should not be ignored.

Bibliography

Bullock, James D. The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe: Or, How the Confederate Cruisers Were Equipped. 2 vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959. Maury is only mentioned briefly in connection with his secret service mission to Europe during the Civil War. However, the book still provides a firsthand account by the Confederate States’ naval representative in England of efforts to buy and arm ships for the Confederate navy.

Corbin, Diana Fontaine Maury. A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury, U.S.N. and C.S.N. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1888. This laudatory book by one of Maury’s daughters contains much personal history of Maury and his family. Includes letters to and from Maury. However, there are many factual errors throughout the work.

Hawthorne, Hildegarde. Matthew Fontaine Maury: Trail Maker of the Seas. New York: Longmans, Green, 1943. Written more in the style of a historical novel, this very readable work is a good introduction to Maury’s life. It suffers, though, from a lack of documentation and does not have the benefit of new archival material drawn upon by later works.

Hearn, Chester G. Tracks in the Sea: Matthew Fontaine Maury and the Mapping of the Oceans. Camden, Maine: International Maritime/McGraw-Hill, 2002. Comprehensive biography, describing how Maury’s career paralleled the U.S. rise as a maritime power. Focuses on Maury’s experiences as the first superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory, when he charted the oceans’ surface currents and wind systems.

Jahns, Patricia. Matthew Fontaine Maury and Joseph Henry: Scientists of the Civil War. New York: Hastings House, 1961. This work presents a not-too-flattering and possibly overly critical treatment of Maury. It does, however, point out some of his faults and personality clashes with other scientists of the era that earlier biographers glossed over.

Lewis, Charles Lee. Matthew Fontaine Maury: The Pathfinder of the Seas. Annapolis, Md.: United States Naval Institute, 1927. General overview of Maury’s life. Not much about his personal life but contains a good chapter on how his family and friends viewed him before the Civil War. The best early biography, but lacks documentation or bibliography.

Wayland, John Walter. The Pathfinder of the Seas: The Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury. Richmond, Va.: Garrett and Massie, 1930. This highly readable book is particularly good on Maury’s Tennessee years; it has been superseded by later biographies but still provides an enjoyable introduction to its subject.

Williams, Francis Leigh. Matthew Fontaine Maury: Scientist of the Sea. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1963. The best and most accurate biography, based on primary sources in the Library of Congress, National Archives, and the Maury Collection at the University of Virginia. Contains an excellent bibliography and a valuable list of Maury’s published works.