For many years the scientific world rang with Maury’s praise, though there were, of course, some detractors. In referring to these “closet men of science” who claimed that he pushed his speculations oftentimes beyond the limits which the facts before him would authorize a prudent and cautious investigator to go, he wrote that the true problem with which he had to deal was to use his opportunities so as to produce the greatest good to the greatest numbers, and that he was willing to be judged by the fruits of his labor. Furthermore, he announced again and again in his “Sailing Directions” the following rule by which his investigations had always been guided: “To keep the mind unbiased by theories and speculations; never to have any wish that an investigation would result in favor of this view in preference to that, and never to attempt by premature speculation to anticipate the results of investigation, but always to trust to the observations”.
In spite of his great achievements, Maury’s own countrymen were rather backward about rewarding him. The University of North Carolina conferred upon him an A.M. degree in 1847 and a LL.D. in 1852, and Columbia University made him a Doctor of Laws in 1854. A. A. Low and Brothers of New York named one of their clipper barques in his honor in 1855. But the most substantial reward bestowed upon him in the United States came in 1853, when the merchants and underwriters of New York presented him a fine silver service and a purse of $5000 in recognition for what he had done for the commerce of that great port. Six years later, a testimonial signed by 363 different American shipowners, masters, and merchants was sent to him as an expression of their “personal regard and esteem”.
The reports of the various Secretaries of the Navy from 1850 to 1855 referred in the highest terms of appreciation to the hydrographical work which Maury was doing. Secretary Graham went so far as to write, “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”. Still, notwithstanding this official praise, Maury was kept in the rank of lieutenant, and an attempt made in the Senate in January, 1855 to secure an appropriation of $25,000, as “some substantial evidence of the appreciation of the benefits he has, by his labors, conferred upon his country”, came to nought; and a short time thereafter he was treated with the greatest cruelty by the Navy Department which placed him for a time in official disgrace and reduced his pay to $1200 per annum.
Abroad, on the contrary, Maury received almost universal recognition, and the rulers of Europe seemed to vie with each other in conferring medals and decorations upon him. Up to the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, he had been made a member of some 45 learned societies, about 20 of which were in foreign countries. He was made a knight of the Order of Dannebrog by the King of Denmark in 1856, and the following year a knight of the Order of St. Anne by the Czar of Russia and a commander of the Legion of Honor by the Emperor of France; while in 1859 he had conferred upon him the Order of the Tower and Sword by the King of Portugal. Moreover, between the years of 1854 and 1859 gold medals were presented to him by the rulers of Norway and Sweden, Prussia, the republic of Bremen, Holland, Austria, Sardinia, and France; and in addition a medal of honor was awarded him for his charts at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855, and only the year before the beginning of the Civil War the Pope sent him a set of thirteen beautiful silver medals. There were two gold medals from Prussia; namely, the medal designed for distinguished works of science and the Cosmos Medal, which had been struck by the King of Prussia to honor Humboldt upon the publication of his “Cosmos” and which was given to Maury because of the warm personal friendship that had long existed between the two great scientists.
Thus was Maury’s resourcefulness and perseverance in investigating the winds and currents of the sea and in presenting the results of his research in a practical form for the use of the mariners of the world crowned with success; and whatever the future might hold in store for him, he must have then realized that he had gained for himself an entrance into that small company of the world’s most distinguished scientists.
CHAPTER VI
His Physical Geography of the Sea
Maury’s investigations of the winds and currents of the sea led him into researches connected with all the phenomena of the ocean, the results of which were so extensive and so valuable as to win for him the right to be called the first great oceanographer of the world.
At the beginning of his work at the Depot of Charts and Instruments, he uncovered in the old log books facts relating to the Gulf Stream, which led him to certain interesting conclusions concerning this great ocean current that had not been previously recognized. In July, 1843 he gave an address before the President, the Corps Diplomatique, and important government officials on “The Gulf Stream and Its Causes”, which was reread with certain variations before several different learned societies during the following year. He continued to write such scientific papers on topics bearing on oceanography, while he was engaged in astronomical work and the preparation of his wind and current charts, and these papers, after being delivered before scientific societies, were published by him in the astronomical and meteorological publications of his office. Of particular note were those which appeared in the different editions of his “Sailing Directions” under such titles as “The Influence of the Gulf Stream on the Trade of Charleston”, “The Currents of the Sea”, “On the Saltness of the Sea”, “On the General Circulation of the Atmosphere”, “Red Fogs and Sea Dust”, “On the Probable Relation between Magnetism and the Circulation of the Atmosphere”, “Of Clouds and Equatorial Cloud Rings”, “On the Geological Agency of the Winds”, and “Deep Sea Soundings”.
