Sea-captains of all nations regarded Lieutenant Maury as a wise counsellor and faithful friend, while France, Holland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Portugal, and Sardinia, all either conferred upon him orders of knighthood or struck medals in his honor.
In 1861, Lieutenant Maury resigned the office of Chief Superintendent of the National Observatory and Hydrographic Office, deeming it his duty as a Virginian to take the side of his State at the outbreak of the Civil War. Upon this occasion he received letters of invitation from the Grand Duke Constantine offering him residence in Russia and every facility for continuing his scientific researches. A similar offer was made by Prince Napoleon on behalf of France, and also by the Archduke Maximilian of Austria. In 1866 a pecuniary testimonial was presented to Lieutenant Maury at Willis’s Rooms, London, where he was entertained by English naval officers and scientific men of the highest distinction, Sir John Parkington being chairman. England, France, Russia, and Holland contributed 3000 guineas, a substantial token of their esteem and gratitude for his labors in the service of mankind.
On one occasion Secretary of the Navy, Graham, wrote to Lieutenant Maury as follows:
“Indeed, I doubt whether the triumphs of navigation and the knowledge of the sea, achieved under your superintendence of the Observatory, will not contribute as much to an effective Naval Service and to the national fame as the brilliant trophies of our arms.�
Maury died in 1873, in his sixty-seventh year, an American scientist whose life was devoted to discovering the secrets of the sea, and to the welfare of seamen, irrespective of rank or nationality. In lamenting his death, the Senate of Virginia closed its resolutions with this eulogy:
“An honor to Virginia, an honor to America, and an honor to civilization, and in gratefully recognizing this we do but honor ourselves.�
CHAPTER X
CALIFORNIA CLIPPERS OF 1851 AND THEIR COMMANDERS—A DAY ON BOARD THE “WITCH OF THE WAVEâ€�
A LITTLE more than sixty thousand tons of shipping had been launched from the shipyards in and near New York during the year 1850, and over thirty thousand tons were still under construction there when the year closed, while the total tonnage of vessels built in the United States that year was 306,034 tons.
At this period the California clippers increased rapidly in size. Ships of a new type from 1500 to 2000 tons register, of which the Stag-Hound was the pioneer, were now being built, and ship-builders were called upon to deal with the problem of fitting wooden spars and hemp rigging that would stand the stress and strain of the enormous amount of canvas that these powerful vessels were expected to carry. The rigging and handling of this new type of long-limbed clipper, with her unexplored peculiarities, gave ship-builders and sea-captains some serious thinking and the ship lovers of South Street something to talk about and argue over.
Thirty-one California clippers were launched during the year 1851, and almost all the large ship-yards along the Atlantic seaboard were represented by one or more. Donald McKay built the Flying Cloud, Flying Fish, and Staffordshire; William H. Webb, the Challenge, Invincible, Comet, Gazelle, and Sword-Fish; Fernald and Pettigrew, of Portsmouth, the Typhoon; Jacob A. Westervelt & Sons, the Hornet and N. B. Palmer; George Raynes, the Wild Pigeon and Witch of the Wave; Smith & Co., of Hoboken, the Hurricane; Perrin, Patterson & Stack, of Williamsburg, the Ino; Briggs Bros., of South Boston, the Northern Light and Southern Cross; Hood & Co., of Somerset, the Raven; J. O. Curtis, of Medford, the Shooting Star; J. Williams, the Tornado, Isaac Taylor, of Medford, the Syren; Trufant & Drummond, of Bath, the Monsoon, and Jacob Bell, the Trade-Wind.