Matthew Fontaine Maury

Best known as: Naval officer and oceanographer

Born: January 14, 1806 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia

Died: February 1, 1873 in Lexington, Virginia

Resting place: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia

Biography:

Matthew Fontaine Maury was born in 1806 into a prominent Virginia family of French descent. His parents were named Richard and Diane, and he was the seventh of nine children. He was born in Virginia but moved to Tennessee at the age of five. His older brother, John Minor Maury, joined the Navy but died of yellow fever. Matthew wanted to join the Navy as well, but his father forbade him from doing so. At age 19, however, he did anyway. Sam Houston, who was a friend of the family, secured a naval appointment for Matthew.

As his first job in the Navy, Maury served as a midshipman aboard a ship called the Brandywine, whicih carried the Marquis de Lafayette home to France after his 1824 tour of the U.S. Maury also served aboard the USS Vincennes, which was the first U.S. warship to circumnavigate the world. He soon became extremely interested in navigation, meterology, and oceanography. In 1836 he published A New Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Navigation. That same year, he was promoted to lieutenant.

Sadly, in 1839 at age 33, Maury broke his right leg in a stagecoach accident. After that, he was no longer physically able to serve as a sailor. Instead, he dedicated his life to studying and writing about winds and currents. In 1842, he became Superintendent of the Depot of Charts and Instruments, which later became the U.S. Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office. In this role, he studied and organized thousands of ship logs dating back to the advent of the U.S. Navy and developed a uniform system of recording oceanographic data, which was used by navies around the world. He published numerous books, including the Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic (1847), which taught sailors how to use currents and winds to their advantage, and The Physical Geography of the Sea (1855), which is considered the first modern textbook of oceanography. One route that he discovered shortened the travel time from New York to San Francisco by 47 days. Maury helped to found the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1848. Additionally, he played a crucial role in the creation of a transatlantic telegraph cable, discovering an underwater plateau that served as a perfect route. In 1853, he helped to organize an international meteorological conference in Brussels, Belgium during which numerous nations agreed on a system of sharing meterological data.

LIke many people who served in the Confederate armed forces, Maury was personally opposed to secession, but he was even more strongly opposed to fighting against his native state of Virginia. Therefore, when Virginia seceded in April 1861, Maury resigned his position in the U.S. Navy. He was appointed commander of the Virginia Navy and later the Confederate States Navy. He was also appointed chief of the Naval Bureau of Coast, Harbor, and River Defense. In this role, he invented electrically controlled naval mines, which ultimately destroyed more Union ships than all other causes combined. Along with math professor Francis Smith, he developed a system of weights and measures for the Confederacy. He also traveled to England, Ireland, France, and Austria to acquire ships for the Confederate Navy and to attempt to persuade European countries to intervene in the war on behalf of the Confederacy.

Maury learned of the Confederacy's defeat while on his way back from Europe. Instead of returning home, he decided to go to Mexico. There, he worked with Archduke Maximilian of Austria to try to establish a colony for former Confederates which was to be called New Virginia. Unfortunately, the colony was not able to attract enough inhabitants, and the plan was abandoned. Maury moved to England in 1866.

In 1868, Maury moved back to the U.S. after the federal government pardoned him. He became a professor of meterology and chair of the physics department at Virginia Military Institute. He was very active, giving lectures across the U.S. and world and completing a physical survey of Virginia, the results of which he published in a book called The Physical Geography of Virginia. He also helped to found the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, which today is known as Virginia Tech. Maury collapsed while giving a speech in 1873. Shortly thereafter, he died at his home in Lexington, Virginia. He was 67.

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Maury as Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, 1853

Maury in 1855

Photo of Maury by Matthew Brady

Maury by Photo Engraving Co. of New York

Maury as Commander in the C.S. Navy

Painting of Maury by Ella Sophonisba Hergesheimer, 1923

Maury's signature