Matthew Fontaine Maury

Matthew Fontaine Maury was born near Fredericksburg, Virginia, 14 January 1806 to Richard Maury (1766-1843) and Diana Minor Maury (1768-1843). At five he moved with his family to Tennessee. In 1825, he received a midshipman's warrant and joined the United States navy. After nine years on active duty at sea, Maury returned to Virginia in 1834 and married Ann Hull Herndon (1811-1901) 15 July 1834. He settled in Fredericksburg and began writing articles on the navy. In 1842, he was appointed superintendent of the Depot of Charts and Instruments of the Navy Department and began researching ocean winds and currents. His work resulted in time being cut off from sea voyages. In 1858, he was restored to active command with the rank of Commander. When the Civil War began, he resigned his commission 20 April 1861. He was appointed special agent to England by the Confederate government. While in England, he helped procure ships for the Confederacy and worked on electric mines. When the war ended, Maury offered his services to the Emperor Maximilian (1832-1867) to colonize former Confederates in Mexico. Colonization proved to be a failure and Maury returned to England in 1866, where he received an honorary degree from Cambridge University. Friends convinced him to return to the United States and in in 1868, he was appointed professor of meteorology at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Maury died in Lexington 1 February 1873 and was buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. Maury and his wife had eight children.

From the guide to the Matthew Fontaine Maury Letters, 1848-1861, (Library of Virginia)

Matthew Fontaine Maury was born on 14 January 1806 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. In 1825, he entered the United States Navy as midshipman, serving in a succession of vessels in Europe, South America and on a voyage of circumnavigation. After suffering a serious accident in 1839, Maury spent a long convalescence publishing articles on sea navigation and political essays advocating naval reforms.

In 1842, he was appointed superintendent of the Depot of Charts and Instruments of the Navy Department in Washington, devoting much of his time to the compilation of observations of winds and currents at sea and publishing charts and sailing directions. At an international maritime conference at Brussels in 1853, his system of recording the oceanographic data of naval vessels and merchant marine ships was adopted by the leading maritime states and brought him international prominence and numerous honours. His influential textbook was published in 1855.

Resigning from the United States Navy in 1861, Maury was commissioned in the Confederate Navy, travelling to England in 1862 to purchase and outfit vessels for the Confederacy. He returned to the United States in 1868 to accept the chair of meteorology at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. He died on 1 February 1873.

Published work The physical geography of the sea, and its meteorology. Being a reconstruction and enlargement of the eighth edition of The physical geography of the sea by Matthew Fontaine Maury Samson Low, Son & Co. London (1860) SPRI Library Shelf 551.46

From the guide to the Matthew Maury collection, 1850, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)