We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to By the age of 26, he was flag captain of the fleet and was destined for great things. There was no naval academy in those days and Matthew Maury immediately went to sea on a man-of-war, learning midshipman skills on the job. Although he did not return to his native state before 1868, Maury acted on assumptions about While Maurys siding with the Confederacy has been a source of controversy in evaluating his legacy today, the scientific value of his contributions to marine navigation, oceanography, and geography is clear. Dr Matthew Fontaine Maury Osborne. Gratuitous links to sites are viewed as spam and may result in removed comments. Maury entered the navy in 1825 as a midshipman, circumnavigated the globe (1826-30), and in 1836 was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Maury's uniform system of recording oceanographic data was adopted by navies and merchant marines worldwide and was used to develop charts for all the major trade routes. His grandfather (the Reverend James Maury) was an inspiring teacher to a future U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson. Maury's Investigations of the Winds and Currents of the Sea, 1851, On the Probable Relation between Magnetism and the Circulation of the Atmosphere, 1851, Observations to Determine the Solar Parallax, 1856, Commander M. F. Maury on American Affairs, 1861, Published Address of Com. While visiting there, Maury was convinced by his old teacher to give the "cornerstone speech. In 1861, the pioneering ocean researcher and former superintendent of the U.S. At the beginning of 1839, at age 33, Maurys naval career came to a shattering end. However, Emperor Pedro II's government firmly rejected the proposals, and Maury's proposal received little or no support in the United States, especially in the South, which sought to perpetuate the institution and the riches made off the yoke of slavery. In 1844, the Depot of Charts and Instruments became the Naval Observatory. ", "Scientist of the Seas: The Legacy of Matthew Fontaine Maury | Worlds Revealed: Geography & Maps at The Library Of Congress", "Matthew Fontaine Maury: Benefactor of Mankind", "Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury USN & CSN", "Naval ROTC's Home at UVA Renamed 'John W. Warner Hall', "Naval Academy renames Maury Hall for President Jimmy Carter in effort to remove Confederate symbols", "JMU students challenge university to rename buildings named after Confederate leaders", "JMU proposes renaming buildings honoring Confederate leaders", "USN Ships USS Commodore Maury (SP-656), 19171918", "Research Vessel Matthew F. Maury (formerly PCF-2)", "Newport News' Lake Maury, named for Confederate officer, is now the Mariners' Lake", "Maury High and two other Norfolk schools named for Confederates could be renamed", "About Our School / History of Our School", "About the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington", The Historical Marker Database: Matthew Fontaine Maury, "Matthew Fontaine Maury - 3D 4 - Tennessee Historical Markers on Waymarking.com", The Historical Marker Database: Matthew Fontaine Maury: Pathfinder of the Seas, The Historical Marker Database: Matthew Fontaine Maury: Birthplace of Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), The Historical Marker Database: Matthew Fontaine Maury: Maury House Trail, "Crews remove Maury statue on Monument Avenue", "Matthew Fontaine Maury, Naval Scientist", CBNnews VIDEO on Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury ", Naval Oceanographic OfficeMatthew Fontaine Maury Oceanographic Library The World's Largest Oceanographic Library, United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps Matthew Fontaine Maury Pathfinders Division, The Maury Project; A comprehensive national program of teacher enhancement based on studies of the physical foundations of oceanography, The Mariner's Museum: Matthew Fontaine Maury Society, Letter to President John Quincy Adams from Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury (1847), The National (Naval) Observatory and The Virginia Historical Society, Matthew Fontaine Maury School in Richmond, Virginia, USA, 1950s, Astronomical Observations from the Naval Observatory 1845, Sample charts by Maury held the American Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Matthew_Fontaine_Maury&oldid=1165800666, Oceanographer, naval officer, educator, author, Explanations and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind and Current Charts, 1851, 1854, 1855, Lieut. As a result of the Brussels Conference, many nations, including many traditional enemies, agreed to cooperate in sharing land and sea weather data using uniform standards. Around this time Patricia Jahns wrote about Maury and his contemporary and . He published the Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic, which showed sailors how to use the ocean's currents and winds to their advantage, drastically reducing the length of ocean voyages. Through speeches and newspaper publications, Maury unsuccessfully called for European nations to intercede on behalf of the Confederacy and help end the American Civil War. The data they gathered revealed a submarine mountain range in the middle of the ocean. Early Pictorial Maps of Asia and Europe from the Hauslab-Liechtenstein Collection, The Secret Maps of World War II Admiral Morton L. Deyo, Series: Imaginary Maps in Literature and Beyond. Matthew Fontaine Maury. The fourth statue, of Confederate naval officer, Matthew Fontaine Maury is less well known. His brother, John, had fought in the U.S. Navy . His last words, recorded verbatim, were "all's well," a nautical expression meaning calm conditions at sea.[21]. [23][24] The original building of the College of William & Mary Virginia Institute of Marine Science is named Maury Hall as well. Influenced by the accounts of his oldest brother's experiences as a Navy man, Matthew Fontaine Maury joined the Navy in 1825. Maurys series of Pilot Charts show recorded prevailing wind patterns by compass direction and month for every 5 square of the ocean. [25] James Madison University also has a Maury Hall, the university's first academic and administrative building. On the advice of Robert E. Lee and other friends, he decided not to return to Virginia but sent a letter of surrender to U.S. naval forces in the Gulf of Mexico and headed for Mexico. A neighbor loaned Matthew a horse for his journey to the east coast and he left home with $30 in his pocket he had earned this tutoring younger students at Harpeth Academy. Maury was initially buried in the Gilham family vault in Lexington's cemetery, across from Stonewall Jackson, until, after some delay, his remains were taken through Goshen Pass to Richmond, Virginia the following year[22] He was reburied between Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. Maury also showed prowess in land-based cartography, as seen in The Washington map of the United States, a large wall map produced in 1860 that measures over five feet wide and five feet high. Author of this page: The Doc This led to the establishment at Blacksburg of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, later renamed Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, in 1872. Colonel Richard Launcelot Maury (CSA); Lt. John Herndon Maury, CSA and Mary Herndon Werth. Maury made it standard practice for ships to carry logs on which sailors recorded scientific data he requested about the oceans. Maury also called for an international sea and land weather service. As Maury had noted after an earlier voyage, "The calm belts of the sea, like mountains on the land, stand mightily in the way of the voyager. var googletag = googletag || {}; Matthew Fontaine Maury - U.S. National Park Service Matthew Fontaine Maury High School in Norfolk, Virginia, is named after him. Maury wrote to his cousin, "Therefore I see in the slave territory of the Amazon the SAFETY VALVE of the Southern States. if ( 'querySelector' in document && 'addEventListener' in window ) { When Matthew was fit enough to ride a horse again, he rode six miles to Harpeth Academy twice a day, where he became one of the top students. The wealthy businessmen and fellow New Yorkers who financed Cyrus Field'svision of a submarine cable across the Atlantic and served as the board of the company. An article tying his legacy in oceanography to the slave trade suggested that Maury was ambivalent about slavery, seeing it as wrong but not intent on forcing others to free enslaved people. Mathew Fontaine Maury did not come back from France after the civil war as he was tried in a federal court for treason, without representation found guilty. 1930 United States Federal Census. His data enabled him to compile new shipping charts allowing ships to cut weeks from long voyages. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Maurys right leg suffered multiple fractures. Matthew Maury was a founder of modern oceanography. Please read our Comment & Posting Policy. Naval Observatory. Matthew Fontaine Maury, commencement speech to Virginia Military. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. His Sailing Directions and Physical Geography of the Seas and Its Meteorology remain standard. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Matthew Fontaine Maury (1760 - 1782) - Genealogy - Geni.com Dr Matthew Fontaine Maury Osborne (1916-2003) - Find a Grave Thus Lt. Maury was simultaneously employed with astronomical and nautical work, as well as constantly training new temporary men to assist in these works. Required fields are indicated with an * asterisk. [1] As a midshipman on board the frigate USSBrandywine, he almost immediately began to study the seas and record methods of navigation. What we often forget is that most people outside academia rejected these new ideas. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2022 See above the first printed map of oceanic bathymetry, published by Matthew Fontaine Maury in Explanations with data from USS Dolphin (1836).1 In the heart of the Shenandoah Valley in the Commonwealth of Virginia resides a small school with a unique historythe Virginia Military Institute (VMI). Maury. Chronometers were available to few ships, and sailors. Publ. Dr Matthew Fontaine Maury Osborne. However, it was by no means a victory for skepticism. The best source of information on the Maury family is Sue C. West-Teague's book, The Maury Family Tree: Descendants of Mary Anne Fontaine (1690-1755) and Matthew Maury (1686-1752), published in 2004. [4] He pored over the documents, collecting information on winds, calms, and currents for all seas in all seasons. remove a user's privilege to post content on the Library site. The product of his work was international recognition and the publication in 1847 of Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic. Maury was offered the position as its first president but turned it down because of his age. He resigned with a heavy heart, because he did not want the United States to break in two. (1966). It documents Maury's extensive career and scientific endeavors, including correspondence, notebooks, lectures, and written speeches. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. The captains recorded the lessons faithfully in their logbooks, which were then forgotten. The content of all comments is released into the public domain unless clearly stated otherwise. 1. Following the war, Maury was eventually pardoned; he accepted a teaching position at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. After that he studied naval meteorology, navigation, and charting the winds and currents. Matthew Fontaine Maury, (born Jan. 14, 1806, Spotsylvania county, Va., U.S.died Feb. 1, 1873, Lexington, Va.), U.S. naval officer, pioneer hydrographer, and one of the founders of oceanography. Lee also secured him a post at VMI. Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873) was born near Fredericksburg, Virginia, before moving with his family at the age of 5 near Nashville, Tennessee. However, he did not support the legal abolition of slavery. Nevertheless, the Library of Congress may monitor any user-generated content as it chooses and reserves the right to remove content for any reason whatever, Provided with worldwide information, Maury was able to produce charts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. While he was recovering Maury, using false names, wrote a number of spiky newspaper articles pointing to shortcomings in the Navys training methods. Maury became its director. Here, Maury studied meteorology, compiled data from ships logs, promoted enhanced record-keeping among captains at sea, and produced charts that would communicate his findings. His eldest son, Major Richard Launcelot Maury, and son-in-law, Major Spottswood Wellford Corbin, attended him at the time. Maury compiled all the available ocean data into wind and current charts, which he published in 1847. [20] He also gave talks in Europe about cooperation on a weather bureau for land, just as he had charted the winds and predicted storms at sea many years before. As a sailor, Maury noted numerous lessons that ship masters had learned about the effects of adverse winds and drift currents on the path of a ship. Oceanography and Lecture Tours He went home after he recovered and told his wife Ann Hull Herndon-Maury, "I have come home to die. ' [13] However, a recent article explaining the removal of his monument from Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, illustrated a proslavery stance through deep ties to the slave trade that accompanied his scientific achievements. Congress refused to appropriate funds for a land system of weather observations. Almost immediately, Maury began to study the seas and to record methods of navigation. His mother was Diane Minor. Maury entered the navy in 1825 as a midshipman, circumnavigated the globe (182630), and in 1836 was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Matthew Fontaine Maury Monument - Wikipedia He was U.S. representative at the meeting that led to the establishment of the International Hydrographic Bureau. Nice article! American Practical Navigator: an Epitome of Navigation. A pioneer who both reflected and shaped an era, she was the deciding vote in cases on some of the 20th centurys most controversial issuesincluding race, gender and reproductive rights. In 1855 he published the first modern oceanographic text, The Physical Geography of the Sea. PHOTOS: Maury Monument, then and now - Richmond Times-Dispatch Updates? Over the course of his career, Maury would produce maps, charts, and inventive diagrams that conveyed his new insights on ocean sciences. This geological formation, which Maury dubbed the "telegraph plateau," would prove the ideal route for Field's cable. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. In 1859, Maury produced a similar chart, documenting monsoon and trade winds of the Indian Ocean, including a map of seasonal wind patterns in February and August. There Maximilian, whom he had met in Europe, appointed him "Imperial Commissioner of Colonization". Maury sent out survey ships to take depth readings in the Atlantic Ocean to begin building a map of the ocean floor. It witnessed the spread of uniformitarian geology, higher criticism, and evolution. Other religious friends of Maury included James Hervey Otey, his former teacher who, before 1857, worked with Bishop Leonidas Polk on the construction of the University of the South in Tennessee. The Matthew Fontaine Maury Monument, is a partially deconstructed memorial installed along Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue depicting Matthew Fontaine Maury and commemorating his Confederate naval service and contributions to oceanography and naval meteorology. Seafaring, in the 1800's, was a risky proposition, because. [5], Maury's work on ocean currents and investigations of the whaling industry led him to suspect that a warm-water, ice-free northern passage existed between the Atlantic and Pacific. In 1855, Maury proposed sea lanes in his book Sailing Directions, an idea taken up by the major shipping companies. Maury joined the Navy as a midshipman on board the frigate Brandywine, which was carrying the elderly Marquis de La Fayette home to France following his famous 1824 visit to the United States. Image enhanced and re-annoted by this website. googletag.cmd = googletag.cmd || []; A Naval officer and pioneer in the emerging field of oceanography, Matthew Fontaine Maury was nicknamed the "Pathfinder of the Seas." Matthew was the seventh of the nine children she raised. Maurys vertical section of the North Atlantic from 1852 showing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Maury attended Harpeth Academy in Franklin and studied under Gideon Blackburn and James Otey, the first Episcopal Bishop of Tennessee. At age 12, Matthew fell from a high tree badly injuring his back and almost biting his tongue off. [16], Maury was not an enslaver, but he did not actively oppose the institution of slavery. [36] There is a county historical marker outside the former school. Scientist Matthew Maury modernized navigation techniques but his racist politics have made him a pariah. Matthew Fontaine Maury was born on January 14, 1806 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, USA. Racist ocean science pioneer, once honored, is now rejected by The Gulf of Mexico is its fountain, and its mouth is in the Arctic Seas. Maury established relations for the Confederacy with Emperor Napoleon III of France and Archduke Maximilian of Austria, who, on April 10, 1864, was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico. Growing sectional tensions in America began to occupy more and more of Maury's attention, and while returning from a trip to England in December 1860, he wrote his daughter, "I fear the Union is gone." [12] He believed the future of United States commerce lay in South America, colonized by white southerners and their enslaved people. In 1825, at the age of 19, he received a midshipman's commission with the help of Sam Houston. Besides his detailed geographic depiction of the landscape, Maury included a wealth of thematic information, including predominant church denominations, geological regions, zoological distributions, and, of course, prevailing wind patterns across the country. may result in removed comments. He was exhausted from traveling throughout the nation giving speeches promoting land meteorology. Naval Observatory joined many others from his rebellious home state of Virginia in the Confederate navy, battling then-President Abraham Lincoln's Union. Maury then returned to England in 1866 and found work there. The very ribs of the solid earth, with the foundations of the sea, would be brought to light., There is a river in the ocean. 58:47. Nevertheless, document.documentElement.className += 'js'; When he was fiveyears old, his family moved to Franklin, Tennessee. Navy. The Fontaine-Maury Society Dissatisfied with current naval books on navigation, Maury set about to improve them, and hisA New Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Navigationwas published in 1836. For the first time in his career he had his own cabin. He advocated for creating a state agricultural college as an adjunct to Virginia Military Institute. RICHMOND The former capital of the Confederacy removed a second Confederate monument Thursday morning, taking just over an hour to dismantle and lower the statue of Navy officer and oceanographer. The Matthew Fontaine Maury Papers, a collection at the Library of Congress, contains over 14,000 items that document his career, including correspondence, notebooks, written speeches, and more. Introduction: Reconsidering Matthew Fontaine Maury - Helen M Matthew Fontaine Maury. Virginia, U.S., Birth Records, 1912-2015, Delayed Birth Records, 1721-1920. [17], At an early stage in the war, the Confederate States Congress assigned Maury and Francis H. Smith, a mathematics professor at the University of Virginia, to develop a system of weights and measures.[18]. His great-grandfather was Matthew Maury who had married Mary Anne Fontaine. Matthew Maury - Famous Ocean Explorers on Sea and Sky He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and is considered a founder of modern oceanography. He returned to Mexico after thecwar, as he wasnt allowed in the United States until President Johnson issued the pardon proclamation ! His next assignment was to helm the Depot of Charts and Instruments, the precursor to the U.S. Through the 1840s and 50s, driven by his strong work ethic, Maury contributed to a wide range of scientific and academic endeavors, including publishing perhaps the first modern textbook on oceanography (The Physical Geography of the Sea in 1855), tracking whale migrations, promoting greater international scientific cooperation, and even proposing routes for a cross-continental railroad. [31][32] The lake is located on the Mariners' Museum property and is encircled by a walking trail. He lived in England for a number of years after the war, eventually returning to America and serving as professor of meteorology at Virginia Military Institute. Decades before Maury was born, Benjamin Franklin correctly explained the Atlantic Oceans Gulf Stream after recording sea temperatures on several crossings. Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office. He spent the war in the Southern United States, and Great Britain and France as a Confederate envoy. Four Navy ships would also bear his name. [11] Maury, along with other politicians, newspaper editors, merchants, and United States government officials, envisioned a future for slavery that linked the United States, the Caribbean Sea, and the Amazon basin in Brazil. On Monument Avenue | A Confederate for the World - American Civil War Fascinated by the curiously low atmospheric pressures he recorded there, Maury later wrote his first scientific paper, On the Navigation of Cape Horn, published in the American Journal of Science in July 1834. Though some of the claims are questionable, he was a good scientist that took on a difficult job and rose to the challenge. Matthew Fontaine Maury's Timeline. As a result of John's painful death, Matthew's father, Richard, forbade him from joining the Navy. In 1862 he went to England as a special agent of the Confederacy, and at the wars end (1865) he went to Mexico, where the emperor Maximilian made him imperial commissioner of immigration so that Maury could establish a Confederate colony there. When war came, Maury resigned from the Navy and accepted a post with the Confederacy, serving as its agent in London. As a U.S. Navy officer, he was required to decline awards from foreign nations. Buildings on several college campuses are named in his honor. The naval mines, called torpedoes at that time, were similar to present-day contact mines and were said by the Secretary of the Navy in 1865 "to have cost the Union more vessels than all other causes combined. Like mountains on the land, they have their passes and their gaps." Maurys work for the Confederacy cost the Union more warships than any other factor. He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and "Father of Modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology" and later, "Scientist of the Seas," due to the publication of his extensive works in his books . Discover the story of the Supreme Courts first female justice. Maury also advocated construction of a railroad across the Isthmus of Panama. He died at the institute in 1873 after he had completed an exhausting state-to-state lecture tour on national and international weather forecasting on land. But while Maury left an indelible mark on the fields of oceanography and geography at large, his legacy is not without controversy. About this Collection | Matthew Fontaine Maury Papers | Digital Reaching Washington penniless, Maury receiving 15 cents per mile travel allowance, which was ample for his needs, he was ordered to the new frigate Brandywine then at anchor in the Potomac and reported on board on August 13, 1825. Maurys ship was due to sail from New York to the Pacific Ocean via Rio de Janeiro. In that year his Sailing Directions included a section recommending that eastbound and westbound steamers travel in separate lanes in the North Atlantic to prevent collisions. [17] There, he sought to purchase and fit ships for the Confederacy and persuade European powers to recognize and support the Confederacy. Anyone who doubts the value of accurat data also fails to understand the universe. His charts showed mariners where to find those passes and gaps, and Maury was able to plot a course that reduced the time for a sea voyage from New York to San Francisco by 47 days. Let us not white wash history as these are the facts. Matthew Fontaine Maury's design for the New Dominion cannot be understood without first reviewing his unsuccessful efforts to induce south-erners to emigrate to Mexico after the Civil War. His 1851 Trade wind chart of the Atlantic Ocean is a striking visualization of Atlantic Ocean trade winds across time and space, with recordings made specific to calendar month and location (by latitude and longitude). Maury Hall was the home of the Naval Science Department at the University of Virginia and headquarters of the University's Navy ROTC battalion until being renamed in 2022. Knowledge of seasonal and geographic changes aided captains in their cross-Atlantic journeys. Matthew Fontaine Maury statue removed on Richmond's Monument Avenue Numerous historical markers commemorate Maury throughout the South, including those in Richmond, Virginia,[38] Fletcher, North Carolina,[39] Franklin, Tennessee,[40] and several in Chancellorsville, Virginia.[41]. Matthew Fontaine Maury. Maury's seagoing days ended abruptly at the age of 33 after he broke his right leg in a stagecoach accident. Matthew Fontaine Maury and the Problem of Virginia's Identity - JSTOR Maury played a key role in the founding of modern oceanography. Some were offered to Maury's wife, Ann Hull Herndon-Maury, who accepted them for her husband. This resulted in the publication of several . Matthew Maury (1806-1873), an officer in the US Navy, is now known as the Father of Modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology. Maury asked his daughters and wife to leave the room. He was buried in Richmond, Virginia. Sun., July 12, 2020. The statue was dedicated in the late 1920s. From these, he aimed to produce detailed charts showing typical conditions and optimal navigation routes for naval ships at all times of the year. Circling the Globe Matthew Fontaine Maury - Great Lives Later researchers discovered that this ridge the Mid-Atlantic Ridge stretched the entire north-south length of the ocean. He would spend much of the war abroad, hoping to persuade Europeans to support the Confederate cause and bring the war to a quick end. U.S. Frigate, Brandywine, circa 1831. Matthew Fontaine Maury: Pathfinder of the Seas - The Epoch Times His family's roots were wide and deep in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County. Maury, Matthew Fontaine | Tennessee Encyclopedia Articles and Essays Featured Content Matthew Fontaine Maury, lecture on "Science and the Bible," . At the Observatory, Maury uncovered an enormous collection of thousands of old ships' logs and charts in storage in trunks dating back to the start of the U.S. There he launched a project to organize and study the thousands of ships logs stored at the depot to learn more about the oceans. M. F. Maury, before the Fair of the Agricultural & Mechanical Society, This page was last edited on 17 July 2023, at 13:57. Diana F. Maury Corbin, comp., A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury (London, 1888).. 3. In 1839 he was lamed in a stagecoach accident, which made him unfit for active service. His mother was Diane Minor. In the severest droughts it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows. [14] Brazil maintained legal enslavement but had prohibited the importation of newly enslaved people from Africa in 1850 under the pressure of the British. without consent. He wanted to emulate the naval career of his older brother, Flag Lieutenant John Minor Maury, an officer in the U.S. Navy, who caught yellow fever after fighting pirates.