DISTINGUISHED NANTUCKETERS. 135 



set longitude.' i Lieut. Maury!' I exclaimed, 'he 

 didn't discover sunset longitude ! ' and then I gave 

 him an account of its discovery as I had heard it, sim- 

 ilar to that published last week. * Well,' said Capt. 

 Daniels, l this is news to me. I have always heard it 

 attributed to Lieut. Maury.' The captain, in common 

 with many others at that time, was keeping a separate 

 account of winds and currents for Lieut. Maury, 

 United States navy, on blank charts furnished by 

 him, and when he made out his statement for that day 

 he added in a foot-note the information I had given 

 him, telling me that if he ever heard from it he would 

 communicate with me. As he never did, I presume 

 no notice was taken of the matter." 



Again in the same paper of Dec. lo, 1881: — 



Sunset Longitude again. — Since our last issue, we 

 have learned from Mr. Owen C. Spooner the follow- 

 ing additional facts attendant upon the discovery of 

 sunset longitude : The " Atlantic " touched at Tahiti 

 after the discovery; and among the vessels at that port 

 was the ship " Columbus," of Nantucket, Capt. William 

 B. Gardner, which had three men sick on board. As 

 there was no doctor at Tahiti, the " Columbus " pro- 

 ceeded to Callao, where an American frigate was sta- 

 tioned, that the sick men might have the benefit of 

 medical treatment from the physician attached to the 

 frigate. Commodore Maury was a lieutenant on this 

 man-of-war, and then and there for the first time heard 

 of the discovery of sunset longitude from the first offi- 

 cer of the " Columbus," now Capt. Henry F. Coffin, 

 of Brooklyn, who had learned it from Mr. Spooner. 



