54 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



and was the very modest beginning of what he afterwards 

 issued as "Sailing Directions", which eventually grew to 

 the enormous size of 1257 pages in two volumes in quarto. 

 The purpose of the little pamphlet was to interpret the 

 meaning and the significance of the wind and current 

 chart which had recently been issued, and to furnish 

 instructions to navigators for the proper keeping of the 

 abstract log on their voyages. They were to enter in 

 this log the latitude and longitude every day at noon ; 

 the hourly rate of the currents expressed in knots; the 

 variation of the compass; the reading of the thermom- 

 eter, in both air and water, at nine o'clock each morning; 

 the state of the barometer just before, during, and just 

 after a gale of wind with the changes and time of changes 

 in the direction of the wind during the gale ; careful en- 

 tries as to the direction and force of the winds every 

 eight hours ; and other marine phenomena such as whales, 

 flocks of birds, rains and fogs, etc., etc. When properly 

 filled out, these logs were to be sent to Maury at the 

 Observatory where the information would be tabulated. 

 It was also suggested that tightly corked bottles contain- 

 ing the latitude and longitude, and the date be thrown 

 overboard at stated times, and that such floating bottles 

 be picked up when seen, and the place and time be 

 carefully noted in the abstract log. Those who agreed 

 to cooperate in these various ways were to receive free 

 of cost a copy of the "Wind and Current Chart of the 

 North Atlantic". 



Maury predicted confidently that, by following his 

 directions, the average 55 days' voyage from New York 

 to Rio by the old route might be shortened by from 10 

 to 15 days. This prediction was fulfilled by the barque 

 W. H. D. C. Wright of Baltimore, which early in 1848 



