El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-08-08
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fwises5 sailor of the world! askeu w
II Hamilton of Richmo one nIgnI !,
last week of crowd offriends. ell
now, you are all of you more or less
former confederate soldiers, and Its D
shame thatyou don't know At once
what mean. The man have refer
ence to wa- called that, 'tpe wlsest sail
O. of the WORLD not only In This coun-
try, but abroad. He served the con-
federata government faithfully, rs ne
had served the United states before IL,
but from neither did he ever receive
the just recognition whlcn 10 MS oue
1 am speaking of Matthew Fontaine
Maury.
"Maury, o. as be was also sometimes
called, the pathfinder OF the seas mas
done more, probably, for the science
OF uaviga.io and seamanship, than any
other mao before or since. Ills Value
has never been appreciated:
Matthew Fontaine Maury was
born in the good old state of Virginia,
on the Atm day of January, 1906, and
was related to the old Page family, OF
which Thomas Nelson Page Is a men,
Der, ard the K-mps of Virginia.
His ancestors were French. ana
were an old family, and are yet, one
branch of it. They were oollgeo 70
leave France, however, on account OF
their protestant religion, aud natural-
", like many others, came to America.
They settled in Virginia, and there
the BOY was born.
He was brought up on q farm and
had but few advantages, but even as
youngster he showed q desire for lie arm
ing which his parents encouraged, and
he was given the best education that
the country afforded. His am bltton lay
In the direction of mathematics, and IL
was not long before he showed promise
nf lIsh
future.
while he was still q youngster he
attracted the attention of Sam Houst
on, who was at that time mem Der OF
congress from Tennessee, AID the In
rerest excited by the boy with the old
sol1ier and statesman, continued until
finally Msury was appointed m1dsh1p-
man In the United States navy tn rough
Houston 3 influence.
Tine boys in those days learned
seamansbip from actual experience
There wasn't any naval academy, and
the life was hard aud likely to disgust
a boy who wssn'G in dead earnest, but
Maury was 10 earnest concerning HE
prOfessioe, and he demonstrated that
he vas a natural born sailor on his
hrsF cruise.
son his third cruise he wrote his
first work on naval matters. IL attract
ed considerable attention, and gained
for him the respect aud admiration OF
his superiors. He spent several years
abroad, studying, and laying the
foundation for that knowledge which
stood him to such good account after,
wards. Ga his return to the United
States he married Miss Anne Herpdon.
q sister of Louis Herndon, commander
of the United States cruiser South
America, and a member of an old Vir-
ginia family.
AFTER his marriage Msury devoted
his attention to careful study and
thought 1t is due TO him that the
proper knowledge of the trade winds
that is due the credit for tie dis
coveries concerning the currents and
trade winds of both the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans.
Before the publication OF his works
on the subject there was absolutely no
thing known of the theories he advan-
ced. He constructed the fret sailing
from old log books which we're consider
ed useless. This work excited the in
terest and admiration of the entire
world, and made him known as the
pathfinder
''His discoveries are denied by the
navy department. today, but the books
published every month under the name
of the United States pilot charts are
merely the observations made by Mat
thew Maury years ago.
''In nv opinion he was one of the
greatest men America has ever
produced. 1t would rest, 1 think,
soundly and securely on his physical
geography, If he had done nothing
more. This geography, which is re-
cognIzed as standard work, was
pronounced by Humboldt the greatest
authority on the subject ever written.
"By the time Maury had accom-
pli-hed so much he had advanced in
years and had won houors and riches
He was presented during his Life With
more decorations than any other Amer
lean has ever received
About this time he originated the
present system of weather observation,
and as early as 1910 he had seen and
explained that from Newfoundland to
Ireland lay the proper ocean bed for a
Atlantic cable.
"Cyrus w. Field admitted that
Maury furnished the brains for that
undertaking.
While he was At the height of his
power, with all indications poin ting to a
more successful career than he had ex-
perienced before, the war between the
his fortunes with the confederacy. Att
that time he was engaged in q valuable
work in the national observatory. His
desire was to finish his work, but he
linked bis future with that of
his state, and offered his
services to the governor of Virginia.
When the storm broke, and it was
seen that there was to be war, both
Russia and France offered Maury
honors and the opportunities for the
continuation of his studies in safety
But he chose the dangers of war at