The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1910-11-04
TABLET
To N. F. MAURy
CONFEDERATE SOCIETY DOES
HONOR TO "PATHFlNDER OF
THE SEAS-JUDGE DUKE Ex-
tolls HERO AND HIS DEEDS.

With impressive exercises. mar
BILE tablet was unveiled Wednesday
to the memory of Commodore Mat
thew Fontaine Maury, of the Confed-
crate navy, at 11O5 East Clay street,
where he resided during the first two
years of the bloody conflict between
the states, says the Richmond Vir-
ginian.
In this house, as the inscription OF
the marble tablet reads, Commodore
Maury invented the submarine cleo
trical torpedo. which was but one of
his many achievements in scientific
endeavor.
I'm an ordinary washtub," said
Juuge r. T. w. Duke, orator OF the
occasion, Matthew MAJ E"ntafne
discovered how powder would be eN-
ploded under water by electricity, and
to him as much as to the adamantime
legions that guarded the capital or
the COnfederacy for four long years,
Is due the credit of keeping the Yam
kee forces at bay For he planted
those torpedoes of his invention in the
James and kept off the warships Of
the enemy that would have come up
the river and captured the city long
before it fell. but for fear that they
would be blown to atoms
Others to Be Erected.
The exercises were conducted I'M
der the auspices of the ladies of the
Confederate Memorial Literary So
ciety, the tablet being the first of sew
eral which the society will set up in
different sections of the city IN mem
DRY of Confederate heroes.
Following the chorus singing of the
"Star Spangled Banner" by girls Of
the High School, Rev. DR.. James P.
Smith offered up prayer. Then the
chorus sang maryland, My May
land,' after which Governor Mann
introduced Judge Duke, of Charlottes-
vile, who extolled Marry and his
deeds in the highest terms.
Every sailor who ploughs the seas
honor the memory Of Maury," declar-
ed Judge Duke, referring to his dis
| covery Of the ocean currents and
other mysteries Of the trackless seas.
| land every scientist owes him a debt
of gratitude
Robbed Sea of Terrors.
"Maurv has built up system that
has robbed the sea Of half its ter
| rors," continued the judge" and has
saved this co':1try in dollars, by real
| son of his discoveries, more money
Utah h''tAe1SllSl SNcl o"uCu duu tuC
Rothchilds ever rolled in. "He dis
| covered that the sea had paths like
| the land and then he proceeded to
chart them for the benefit Of nayi-
gators. To him is also due the great
Atlantic cable. for. as Cyrus ".
i Field said. Maury furnished the brains
that paved the way for its construc-
! ton"
Judge Duke started out BY sketch
| ing the early life Of the great path
| finder Of the seas, as Maury is COM
| mcnly called. detailing his descent
| from coordination Of Dutch, Scotch
| Irish, French and English stock, and
telling how he was born in Spotsyl-
| vania where the roar of mighty guns
| were heard in later years, how he
| moved to Tennessee at All early age
and there heard the call of the sea
echoed in the mountain streams.
Solved the Mysteries.
| ''He answered the call said the
| speaker. and was master OF ship
at an age when most young men Of
the present day are just entering up
| en- the practice OF a profession. He
| knew no such thing as an idle mo-
ment and through life at sea in those
days was mostly a lazy one he was
| ever busy. He used a cannon ball
| for his black board and thereon began
to solve many of the sea problems
| that had hitherto been a mystery to
! men of science"
Judge Duke made special reference
| to Maurys work in building up the
naval observatory at Washington and
! placing it upon the fine footing it
OCCUPIES today.
| "MOnumeNtS are for little men bilt
+. for men such as Maury was a stone
! and name sufficeS --!1 Judge
| Duke, commenting upon the fact that
the tablet erected by the ladies of
Richmond was the only trbute that