Matthew Fontaine MauryPaper by Mrs. H. P. Cochrane, Franklin, Tenn. and Mrs. Mary Lewis Preston, Va.
Paper by Mrs. H. P. Cochrane, Franklin, Tenn. and Mrs. Mary Lewis Preston, Va.
It seems but fitting that those who are interested in the great seaman’s life should know something of his ancestors and early life.
His maternal ancestor in America was Dudas Minor, an English gentleman who received large grants of land from King Charles II and settled in Virginia.
Matthew Fontaine Maury.
Matthew Fontaine Maury.
Matthew Fontaine Maury.
On the father’s side he was of Huguenot descent. Rev. Jas. Fontaine thus gives an account of Maury’s ancestor, Jean de la Fontaine, a French nobleman who held an exalted position in the court of Francis I:
When the “Edict of Nantes†was revoked the persecution of the Protestants followed, and Fontaine was a shining light for the Catholics, and it was deemed advisable to get rid of so prominent a heretic as soon as possible. A band of ruffians were dispatched on the memorable St. Bartholomew’s eve, and Fontaine and his wife were dragged from their beds and their throats cut. “Oh, my children!†exclaimed the narrator, “let us not forget that the blood of martyrs flows in our veins.†This may explain the strong religious bent of Maury’s nature, which was evident to all long before he connected himself with the Episcopal Church.
He was born near Fredericksburg, in Spottsylvania County, Va., January 24, 1806. When he was four years old his parents moved to Tennessee and settled near Franklin. Maury assisted his father and brothers on the farm, and lived the life of the early settler in a new country. He thus became a sturdy, healthy boy. Here in the wilderness schools and churches were alike few and far between, and the education of the pioneer’s children was derived at home, or in the “old held school.†Plain living and high thinking was the motto in the Maury household.
Matthew’s father was strict in the religious training of his family. He would assemble them night and morning to read the Psalter for the day antiphonally, and in this way so familiar did the barefooted boy become with the Psalms of David that in after life he could cite a quotation and give chapter and verse, as if he had the Bible open before him. Surrounded by simple and pure influences, Maury passed his youth. He possessed a deep and inquiring mind and an insatiable craving for truth.
Perhaps his greatest mental strength lay in the direction of mathematics. “My first ambition,†he says, “to become a mathematician was excited by an old cobbler, Neal by name, who lived not far from my father’s home, and who used to send the shoes home to his customers with the soles scratched all over with little x’s and y’s.†Maury was sent to the Harpeth Academy, taught by the Rev. James Otey, first Bishop of Tennessee, and Wm. Hasbrouck, afterwards a prominent lawyer of New York. Here his brilliant mind and studious habits won the esteem of his teacher, which lasted through life.
Maury had an exceeding fondness for the sea, which was fostered by the adventures of his elder brother, who entered the United States navy when but thirteen years of age. When Maury made known his determination to accept the position of midshipman, which the Hon. Sam Houston obtained for him, his father did not command him to decline; but he did not approve it, and would not give him any financial aid, or even his blessing. This was a great grief to Maury, but he had put his hand on the helm, and there was no turning back. So, borrowing a horse, and with only thirty dollars in his pocket, and the limited experience of nineteen years, he set out to seek his fortune. There was no naval academy, and the young middy began his duties and his studies on board a man-of-war. What powers of concentration he possessed, with what unflagging zeal he pursued his studies, proving by his subsequent career that genius is the capacity for labor. William Irving, brother of Washington Irving, loaned him many books.
During his first year of service his frigate, the Brandywine, conveyed Lafayette back to France. The great Frenchman was much attracted by the young midshipman, and had many a kind talk with him. In 1831 he passed his examination, was appointed master of the sloop-of-war Falmouth, and ordered to the Pacific on a four years’ cruise. It was on this voyage that Maury conceived the idea of the famous “Winds and Currents Charts,†which have done so much for the commerce of the world.
He returned to the United States in 1834 and married his cousin, Miss Herndon, to whom he had been engaged several years. Shortly after this marriage he went to Philadelphia to arrange for the publication of his works on navigation. His book, like himself, had the true ring or true metal, and won distinction In England and became the text-book of the United States navy.
At this period Maury obtained leave of absence, and on his way to his old home in Tennessee he was thrown from the top of a stage coach, which resulted in an accident that lamed him for life and interrupted his active service afloat. His leg was improperly set, had to be broken again and reset, and this in a day when anaesthetics were unknown. This period of enforced inactivity was most distressing to the ambitious lieutenant, but proved a blessing in disguise, for it was then that his active mind turned to and grasped the scientific part of his profession. In 1839 he began a series of articles on naval reform. He advised that a navy yard and forts can be established on the Gulf coast. “They cannot be too strongly fortified with outfits for shipping and implements of war.†He advocated also a naval school for young midshipmen. This article led to the building of forts at Key West and the Tortugas, and the establishment of the naval academy at Annapolis.
In 1843 he wrote a notable treatise, entitled “The Gulf Stream and its Causes.†These and other contributions to science were written under the pen name of “Harry Bluff.†They attracted so much attention and were so generally approved by the navy that the officers had great numbers of the papers printed and circulated. When it became known that the young Lieutenant Maury was the author of these papers, his ability and grasp of mind were universally recognized, and his position as authority on naval questions was established. Soon after he was placed in charge of the Depot of Charts and Instruments, which office he developed into “The National Observatory and Hydrographical Department of the United States.â€
In a speech before the Senate John Bell said: “No man could have been found in the country better fitted than Maury for this difficult duty, and he worked with the zeal and energy expected of him.â€
At this time he gave to the world the famous “Winds and Currents Charts and Sailing Directions.†Seamen were at first distrustful of the new charts, fearing that a route which could save from ten to twenty days on an outward voyage, was fraught with danger. At last a Baltimore vessel determined to follow the new chart. The voyage was a complete success, for he made both trips inthe time consumed under the old system in the outward passage alone. There was now no hesitation about the use of the charts. Active interest was excited and the world rang with the fame of Maury’s “Winds and Currents Charts.†Copies were sent to every government and distributed to men-of-war and merchantmen. It has been estimated that “if the money he saved to the world were collected, a monument of precious stones could be erected to his memory.†It was frequently urged that Maury, who was drawing a pay small in comparison to his service, might secure a copyright and thus reap material reward from his labors, but his aim through life had been to make himself of use to his fellow men, and he did not put in a claim for prize money.
While at the observatory he wrote his “Physical Geography of the Sea and Its Meteorology.†This work met with great enthusiasm in England and America, and was translated into many languages for use in the schools. The interest now excited in meteorology and deep sea study enabled Maury to assemble at Brussels, under the auspices of King Leopold, a congress to which England, Russia, France, United States, Belgium and other countries interested in commerce, sent delegates. At the close of the congress Maury returned to America laden with honors and rich in fame. Many of the learned societies of Europe elected him an honorary member. Orders of knighthood were offered him and medals given him by nearly every crowned head of Europe.
It is said that Humboldt received the Cosmos Medal as being the greatest scientist in the world, but he presented it to Maury as being greater than he, saying that he was the “founder of a new science.â€
Maury now began to carry out his plan for meteorological co-operation on land. To effect this he was obliged to travel much and deliver many addresses. Out of these efforts grew the vast “Weather Bureau†of to-day. As early as 1848 Maury had believed that a broad level plateau lay under seas between Newfoundland and Ireland, and Congress dispatched three vessels to perfect his discoveries, and to decide if it would be practicable to lay the cable between Europe and the United States. He was consulted by Cyrus W. Fields and others as to the kind of cable to be used, the way and the time to lay it. At a dinner given in New York to celebrate the first message across the Atlantic, Mr. Field rose and said: “I am a man of few words. Maury furnished the brains, England the money and I did the work.â€
In 1858 Maury was advanced to the rank of Commodore, by special act of Congress. Maury also originated the idea of water-marks and river gauging along the Mississippi and its branches. In 1860 he had reached the high tide of his worldly prosperity. He began to realize material benefits from the fruits of his pen when the Civil War broke out. Mr. Lincoln called for 75,000 troops. Virginia’s answer was secession and a call upon her sons for support. Maury resigned his office and went to Richmond. Nothing had been offered him by the Confederacy. He had everything to lose, nothing to gain. He was a peace-loving man, a student and philosopher; besides, he was greatly opposed to the war. But when Virginia called he left his congenial pursuits, his achievements and his discoveries for what he held to be his duty to his mother State. When it became known abroad that he had severed his connection with the United States, he was invited by France, Russia and Mexico to become their guest, but he declined both. He entered the Confederate States navy, with the rank of commodore and chief of the seacoast, harbor and river defences of the South. He assisted in fitting out the Merrimac and invented a formidable torpedo. In 1862 he established the Confederate submarine battery service, at Richmond. In the same year he was ordered to England to purchase torpedo material. After the war he was not allowed to come home for several years.
In 1868 he, together with Tennyson and Max Muller, received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Cambridge. In 1869 he accepted the chair of physics in the V. M. I., at Lexington, Va. Here, surrounded by his family and friends, he passed the remaining yearsof his life in peace and rest. He died February 1, 1873.
I will conclude with two short extracts, the first from the Richmond Dispatch, as follows:
“The joint resolutions introduced into the Legislature, memorializing the President and Congress to erect, in the shape of a lighthouse on the Ripraps, a monument to Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury, opens the way for the nation to efface from its escutcheon a blot that has long rested there. Soon after the death of Maury a movement was inaugurated abroad to build at a point off the coast of Brazil, an international lighthouse as a memorial to the ‘Pathfinder of the Seas.’ It was intended that each nation should contribute individually to the fund for this purpose, and that the structure should be as enduring as money and human skill could make it. The movement found great favor with foreign nations, and would have materialized but for the attitude of the United States. When this government was sounded on the subject it was found that the partisan hatred and sectional prejudice was so strong at that time that, for diplomatic reasons, the matter was dropped.
“It is designed that the proposed monument shall be dedicated in the presence of the combined nations of the world. And should the United States make the occasion practicable, the grandest naval demonstration that has ever been witnessed anywhere, and in any age, may be expected.
“The great foreign nations in whose scientific societies and aboard whose ships Maury’s name is a synonym of reverence, would delight in an opportunity to pay such a tribute to his genius and to his services. By affording such an opportunity the United States government would put honor not only upon Maury, but upon itself, and reach a higher plane in the eyes of the governments abroad than it has ever occupied since the war. The memorial not only would be a monument to the ‘Wizard of the Winds and Currents,’ but a perpetual reminder of the nation’s confidence in republican institutions and in the fact that we are a reunited people.â€
The second extract is from a tribute paid him by the Hon. A. J. Caldwell before the “Agricultural Society.†He said:
“A farmer lad, he was trained by his country for the sea. She made him a sailor; God made him a genius. A genius like Ariel’s, which made wind and tide and meteor’s glare his servants, and laid its wand upon the main of the ocean and made it the servant of the servants of men. The maritime world to-day would be lost if his great works were blotted out from human memory.
“He first spoke of the submarine telegraphic plateau between Ireland and Newfoundland, on which the ocean cable is laid. He first told the ocean steamers of the ‘sea lanes,’ where, outside of the area of icebergs they run safe from shore to shore. And such was the plenitude of his power, such the comprehensive grasp of his reason, and the fullness of the blessing which his genius bestowed upon the world, that, as experience and time go by, his scientific methods are adapting themselves to the needs of every tiller of the soil in every State of the Union and nation of the earth. The Signal Service, with its daily weather reports, its prognostications, control the actions of every intelligent agriculturist in the land to-day.
“With Promethean hand he snatched the meteoric fires from heaven and lit up the altars of industry. He is dead and gone; but what Columbus was to discovery, Newton to astronomy, LaPlace to physics, Humboldt to national history, Maury was to navigation, meteorology and agriculture. The winds and currents of the ocean bear his name around the watery world. The lowing herd, the bleating flock housed by him from the storm, the flowering meads and golden fields which filled with the shouts and laughter of happy toil are memorials on the lands. His memory will brighten as the years go by, and the blessings of his genius will reach every household and the gratitude of mankind will follow him where sweet fields beyond the swelling flood stand dressed in living green.â€
Read before the D. A. R., June 30, by
MRS. H. P. COCHRANE.
The Daughters of the American Revolution plant this tree in honor of CommodoreMatthew Fontaine Maury, that they may show in this simple way, here in his old home, how they reverence his name. Also by this act that they may help to remove the stain, the disgrace to the American people that no monument has been raised to his memory. This small beginning, they earnestly hope, will lead to greater endeavor. To this end this Chapter has recently endorsed a petition asking the co-operation of the Convention of National Daughters, composed of 7,000 ladies, to memorialize Congress to erect a light-house to his memory, to efface from the nation a blot which has long rested there. This, indeed, has been the third attempt. Soon after the death of Maury a movement was inaugurated abroad to build on the coast of Brazil an international lighthouse as a memorial to the “Pathfinder of the Seas.†It was intended that each nation should contribute individually to the fund for this purpose, and that the structure should be as enduring as money and human skill could make it. It would have materialized, but for the attitude of the United States. When this government was sounded on this subject it was found that partisan hatred and sectional prejudice were so strong at the time that, for diplomatic reasons, it was dropped. Afterwards the Virginia Legislature petitioned the President and Congress to erect a light-house on the Ripraps, off the coast of Virginia, in the Chesapeake bay. It was designed that the proposed monument should be dedicated in the presence of the combined nations of the world, and to be the greatest naval demonstration that had been witnessed anywhere and in any age. How fitting if this could be done at the proposed exposition at Jamestown, in 1907. It is but meet that he should receive the highest acknowledgment of his greatness, not only in reparation, but in gratitude, for it has been said if the money Maury has saved to the world by his charts on the winds and currents and navigation generally, were collected, it would be enough to build a monument of precious stones to his memory, not to speak of the saving of human life. But Humboldt paid him the highest compliment when he presented him with the Cosmos Medal, which he received as being the greatest scientist of the world. He said Maury was greater than he.
It seems particularly appropriate that this tree should be planted in the shadow of this school building, as Maury’s text-book is used here to instruct the children.
And now, Ladies of the American Revolution, I feel that we honor ourselves in paying this tribute to one who, by his goodness, as well as his greatness, has his “name written in the Hall of Eternal Fame.â€
The following paper was also received by Trotwood’s, written by Mrs. Mary Lewis Preston, Seven Mile Ford, Va.:
In the little mountain village of Lexington, Va., on February 1, 1873, there passed from earth one of her most choice souls, great in mind, earnest in work, simple in faith, courted by every civilized nation!
His end was so beautifully simple and childlike that even the newspapers far and near rang with it. This great man, when called by the God who made him, simply lifted his hands in the attitude of a little child expecting to be taken up into the arms of a loving father, and died in that attitude.
This was significant of his character. He was too learned to be doubting, too great for shams, too gentle and trusting for affectation.
This man was Matthew Fontaine Maury, “The Pathfinder of the Sea,†born in Spottsylvania County, Va., January, 10, 1806, and was taken by his father to Tennessee in his fourth year.
In 1825 he was appointed midshipman in the United States navy, making his first cruise in the Brandywine, on the coast of Europe and in the Mediterranean. In 1826 he made a cruise around the world in the Vincennes. In 1831 he was master of the sloop-of-war Falmouth, but was soon acting first lieutenant on the Dolphin, then transferred to the frigate Potomac, in which he returned to the United States.
At the age of 28 he published his first work, “Maury’s Navigation,†which was at once adopted as a text-book in the navy!
He was at this time selected as astronomerand offered the place of hydrographer to the exploring expedition to the South Seas, but declined.
In 1837 he was made lieutenant, and not long after met with the accident which lamed him for life.
While unable for active duty, he cultivated his mind, and by his views published in the “Southern Literary Messenger,†worked great reforms in the navy and secured a naval academy.
He first directed the observations of the flow of the Mississippi. He proposed a system which would enable the observers to give information by telegraph, as to the state of the river and its tributaries. He suggested to Congress efficacious plans for the disposition of the drowned lands on the Mississippi. He brought forward and successfully advocated a warehousing system. In 1842 he was appointed superintendent of the depot of charts and instruments at Washington. He added to his labors of astronomer the task of unraveling the winds and currents of the ocean. He instituted the system of deep sea sounding, leading directly to the establishment of telegraphic communication between the continents by cable.
The “Physical Geography of the Sea,†translated into various languages, is an enduring monument to the genius and usefulness of its author. The powers of Europe recognized the value of his services to mankind. France, Austria, Russia, Prussia, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, Sardinia, Holland, Bremen and the Papal States bestowed orders of knighthood and other honors.
The academies of science of Paris, Berlin, Brussels, St. Petersburg and Mexico conferred the honors of membership.
He left the Federal navy to aid his own State, when Virginia seceded, declining from a sense of duty highly honorable positions from Russia and France.
There have been few greater scientists in the world. Humboldt pronounced him “the greatest the world had ever known.â€
The University of Cambridge conferred on him the degree of L.L. D., and Emperor of France invited him to the superintendency of the Imperial Observatory, at Paris. He patriotically preferred to accept the chair of physics at the Virginia Military Institute.
While here he prepared his latest work, “The Physical Survey of Virginia.â€
His remains rest beneath a modest monument of native James River granite, in Hollywood, Virginia’s beautiful city of the dead.
When he died the Commander of Virginia Military Institute thought it but just and proper that every power in the world should be informed, and telegrams were sent. All were responded to in the most appropriate manner, except one—that of the United States. Not one word from our then President U. S. Grant!
As his body lay in state at Lexington it was literally covered from throat to waist with decorations, some of them the richest and most valuable jewels, the gifts of the crowned heads of the earth.
Then to the man who first gave a complete description of the Gulf stream, who first marked out the specific routes to be followed in crossing the Atlantic, who first instituted the system of deep sea sounding, who first suggested the establishment of a telegraphic communication between the continents by cable, on the bed of the ocean, and who indicated the line along which the existing cable was laid, who caused the erection of our naval academy—to this great man the D. A. R. of America are striving to induce Congress to build a suitable monument. And what place could be more appropriate than Hampton Roads, and what time better than to have it ready before the greatest naval display the world has ever seen, which is arranged to come off during the Jamestown exhibition in 1907.
Isn’t it a great mistake that America does not see fit to honor her great ones, and if she does not, why cannot Virginia and Tennessee join hands and do honor to whom honor is due?
The voice which lives is the one which moulds the souls of men.