CHAPTER I. Ancestry of Matthew Fontaine Maury — Virginian Planters — Huguenots in Virginia — The Reverend James Maury — His Classical School and Scholars — Thomas Jefferson and the Great North-West — Richard Maury and Diana (Minor) Maury — Birth of Matthew Fontaine Maury — Emigration to Tennessee — State of society in Tennessee — Occupations and amusements of Maury and his brothers — Religious training — Maury’s School life
CHAPTER II. Notice of the Career of Maury’s eldest brother — Life in the Navy — Left on the Marquesas Islands for two years — He is taken on board the ship Essex by Commodore Porter — Capture of the Essex at Valparaiso — At the Battle of Lake Champlain — Died at Sea — Matthew Fontaine Maury receives a Midshipman’s Warrant — Journey to take up his appointment — Adventures and entertainment by relations — Meets his future wife — Her parentage — Cruise on board the ship Brandywine — Cruise on the ship Vincennes — Visits the Marquesas — Passes his Examination — Buys a little seal for his sweetheart.
CHAPTER III. Appointed Master of the ship Falmouth on the Pacific Station — Melancholy anecdote — Literary studies under great difficulties — First study of Winds and Currents — Paper on the low barometer off Cape Horn — First Lieut. of the ship Dolphin — Return home in 1834 — Marriage — Publication of his work on navigation — Birth of his eldest daughter — Appointment to survey Southern Harbors — Visit to his parents in Tennessee — Fall from a stagecoach — Fracture of his leg — Long illness — Death of his parents — Application for employment.
CHAPTER IV. Publication of Scraps From The Lucky Bag — Appointment to the charge of the Depot of Charts and Instruments at Washington — Letters respecting the work at the Observatory.
CHAPTER V.
History of the Wind and Current Charts — Letter from Captain Phinny of the Bark Gertrude — Great races between four clipper ships, sailing from New York to San Francisco by the Wind and Current Charts — One Ship wins the race of 16,000 miles by three hours — The Senate of the United States proposes to remunerate Maury for his Wind and Current Charts, but never carried out their proposal — Annual savings to the commerce of the world effected by the charts — Abstract Logs — Sailing Directions — Physical Geography of the Sea — Maury’s rule of conduct in scientific investigations — The Brussels Conference — Honors conferred upon Matthew Fontaine Maury by the governments of foreign countries.
CHAPTER VI.
Plans for meteorological co-operation on land — Invitation to Agricultural Societies to communicate observations for the construction of meteorological Land Charts — Proposal for a system of warnings to Farmers — Opposition he met with — His prophecy about the Weather Bureau — Weather Forecasts — Extracts from Mr. Harlan’s Report before the Senate, praying for an extension of meteorological observations for the benefit of farmers — Letter to Mr. Dorr on the same subject — Honor to whom Honor is due — List of letters on this subject to be found at the Observatory — Fulfillment of Matthew Fontaine Maury’s Prophecy.
CHAPTER VII.
Deep Sea Soundings — Maury prophesies existence of the Telegraphic Plateau — John Mercer Brooke’s invention of a deep sea lead — Extract of a letter from the Secretary of the Navy — Maury’s letters to the Secretary, suggesting the place for the cable, and the kind of line to be used — Dinner at New York to celebrate the first arrival of a message across the ocean — Cyrus W. Field’s speech — The cable ceases to work — Maury explains the cause — Letters on file at the Observatory on this subject.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Naval Retiring Board
CHAPTER IX.
Publications in the periodical press while at the Observatory — Observations of the rise and fall of the Mississippi “Drowned Lands” — Steam Navigation to China — Ship canal schemes — Inca Papers — Their defense in a letter to his cousin, Mrs. Blackford of N.Y.
CHAPTER X.
Exploration of the Amazon by Captain William Lewis Herndon — Loss of the ship Central America — Maury’s official report of that shipwreck, and the death of her gallant commander — Monument to William Lewis Herndon at Annapolis — Maury’s Steam Lanes — Present of $5,000 and a service of plate from the merchants and underwriters of New York — Part of an address to the University of Virginia.
CHAPTER XI.
Maury’s personal appearance and manners — Life in his family — The way he wrote his books — How he dressed in the morning — The nicknames he gave his children — How he taught his daughters round the breakfast table — The borrowed book — The brass telescope — The trip to Europe and visit to Wrottesley Hall.
CHAPTER XII.