Seaman's Ocean — Lt. M. F. Maury, USN : 251 



creation of that institution. He simply was assigned as a midshipman 

 and began a cruise around the world in a frigate, the USS Vincennes. 

 During the cruise (1829-1830) the older officers drilled him in naviga- 

 tion and the elements of naval conduct but he had to drill himself in 

 the elements of his fine and yet broad education. 



In 1 83 1 Maury, still a midshipman, serving in the Falmouth off the 

 west coast of South America, was assigned to act as sailing master 

 and ordered to bring the vessel home. Maury, with his usual thirst for 

 knowledge and hunger for excellence, began combing through all the 

 records he could put his hands on. He wanted to know what kind of 

 treatment he could expect from the winds and the currents of the sea 

 and what courses he should follow to bring his ship home in the 

 least time. He found that the information he sought did not exist. 

 There was only guess and gamble. This experience started him col- 

 lecting his own information and he began a cycle of thinking that 

 later was to produce both practical and theoretical results. 



In 1839 Maury had been fourteen years in naval service, twelve of 

 which had been spent at sea in a variety of vessels and he had only 

 recently been promoted from midshipman to lieutenant. While return- 

 ing from a brief shore leave to survey a vessel to which he had been 

 assigned, the stagecoach in which he was traveling overturned, frac- 

 turing his thigh and dislocating his knee. Important results followed 

 from this accident. To supplement his income he published a series of 

 articles dealing with improvements in the naval service. 



He also had the time to complete and publish a textbook on naviga- 

 tion which received wide and favorable recognition. In 1843 he was 

 assigned as superintendent of the Depot of Charts and Instruments at 

 Washington. After some years of persuasion he induced the Con- 

 gress to improve the quality of instruments provided. In 1847 an 

 appropriation of $10,000 permitted the purchase of an electrochrono- 

 graph. Under his leadership an inactive small office gradually devel- 

 oped into the Naval or National Observatory and was so designated. 



In the meantime he began a systematic study of thousands of old 

 log books that were under his care. What had previously been a mere 

 depository of outworn records he converted into research material of 

 the greatest value. His object was, by the use of these materials, to 

 build up a composite and comprehensible picture of the winds and 

 currents of the various oceans. With this knowledge in hand he fore- 

 saw the time when practical charts and sailing directions would be 

 issued which would cut down the period of ship passages from port 

 to port. 



