Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-07-14
U. 5. PAYS HARDY HONOR ID FAMOUS
 OFFICER 'OF SOUTH
American Warship Is Nam ed After. Commodore
 Matthew E. Maury.

NdSulQSlOIl, U. O., J'-ly low ueil one of the new catch Kaiser" de- stroyers slid down the ways of the Fore river shipbuilding company in Massachusetts a few days ago and was christened the "Maury." the Unit ed States government paid an honor long deferred to great Southern nav al officer whose contributions to the scientific knowledge of his own coun- try hardly have been surpassed.
 Spottsylvania county, Virginia, was the birthplace of Commodore Matthew F. Maury. On the outbreak of the civil war he resigned from the Union navy and cast his lot with the South. It has been said that the North never forgave him for going with This own people," as it never forgave Robert E. Lee, and the assertion has been made that the failure of his own gov ernment to memorialize him while foreign nations have done so, was due to this feeling. If so, kindler sen timent has taken place. A United States warship has been named for him, and it is further proposed to er- ect a monument in this city to his memory.
 Entering the navy of the United States as midshipman at the age of IS, Maury became almost immediate ly interested in the investigation Of the phenomena of the sea, and he con- tinued his investigation and observa- tions throughout his life.
 The first fruit of his studies was "Maurys Navigation" which he pre-. pared on board ship during his le1s- ure hours, and which, published ill 1886. when he was 29 years old, met with universal acceptance and was adopted as textbook in the navy.
 A few years later, while on his way to join surveying vessel in New York harhor, the coach in which he was travelling was overturned, and his
 leg was broken He was disabled for a long time, and permanently famed, but during his inactivity he wrote series of letters on the ao- uses in the navy, which appeared un- der the title of Scraps From the Lucky Bab, by Harry Bluff" and which resulted in great reforms and in the establishment ultimately of the naval academy. Maury made his first observations on the flow of the Mississippi river. and he proposed system of oDser- vations by which captains of steam CTS would be supplied daily by te!e- graph with information as to the
 state of the river and it's trlbutarles' After a number of like contrlbu- tions of scientific knowledge he was appofnted chief of the hydrographlc bureau. and when this institution was | united with the national observatory he became superintendent of the 1 whole. Many of the present methods 1 emnloyed in the weather bureau were 1 devised by Maury. He recommended a uniform style of abstract log, to be kept by all yes 1 sels. in whatever service. at the mari lime congress which was held at
 Rrusssels in 1858, and when he re turned the merchants of New 4orE
 presented to him $5,OOO and servlce of plate. .,,, Sea-" which was the result Of ms studies upon the winds and currents was translated into nearly every lang uage and it made him famous
 throug ghout Europe. Maury said tht l great Humboldt, had founded new science. The author of this remark
 able work was given titles bv almos l every nation of Europe.
 l It was Maury who instituted deep
 sea sounding and discovered th' great plateau under the Atlantic. l
 was he also who suggested to Cyrus w. Field the feasibility of telegraph1' communication between America ant l Europe by means of cable. and h'
 indicated the route along which tht cable was laid.
 He was raised to the rank Of com mander in 1855 but when the clvl
 war came he went with his native
 state into the Confederacy, which h'
 served until the close of hostilitles
 After the war he accepted professor
 ship of physics in the military lnsti tute at Lexington, Va. and he con ducted a physical survey of Vlrglnl'
 which resulted in estapllshln'
 through routes by rail and grea free water line uniting east and west I Commodore Maury had few super iors as a maker of maps and charts }, and his works are still utilized D. Il the country of his birth and by Euro }, pean nations.