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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



U. S. 



SICK BAY 



"Not in the most crowded portions of our most congested cities will there be found so 

 many souls living, breathing, and having their being in a given space as on a large naval 

 vessel, with its crew of more than one thousand. Yet on battleships the health and comfort 

 of the crews are at a maximum." 



scholar, scientist, author — who gave all 

 his discoveries and researches and charts 

 to all who sail the sea, thinking never of 

 gain for self or country. 



It was a far cry from the rude cabin 

 in the primeval forest of Tennessee, 

 where Maury spent his boyhood, to the 

 gathering of savants in Brussels, where 

 Maury's fame and Maury's greatness 

 made him the central figure and won for 

 him five honors of knighthood, conferred 

 by the rulers of Belgium, Denmark, Rus- 

 sia, France, and Prussia, and so many 

 medals of distinction he hardly had a 

 place to store them. His career is an in- 

 spiration not only to the youth of his 

 country, but the whole world, which he 

 made his debtor. 



HOW MAURY GREW UP 



Maury's father moved from the spa- 

 cious, open, Virginia plantation when 

 Maury was a small boy. He had the 

 advantage in boyhood of what we call 



hardships, but which in that day were 

 typical of all homes in the frontier coun- 

 try. Mind and body grew in the open, 

 for hard work on the farm is the best 

 preparation for naval or other rigorous 

 service. 



Maury early heard the call to the sea. 

 His elder brother had lost his life in the 

 naval service, and his father opposed 

 Maury's ambition to follow the profes- 

 sion that had robbed him of his first- 

 born, even though the appointment came 

 from Sam Houston, then Congressman 

 from Tennessee. What romantic history 

 hangs around the association of Houston 

 and Maury — fighters both and American 

 pioneers and statesmen, too ! 



The consuming passion, which made 

 him always follow the path of duty, did 

 not permit even parental objection to dis- 

 suade Maury from the high calling in 

 which he was to win primacy. 



The Fontaines and the Maurys were 

 among the Huguenots who were exiled 



