Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History BookOpen Original Text ue or not is now a manner of
so little consequence that it would not repay the trouble of a strict
historical investigation.
The year 1727 was drawing to its close, when on a dark stormy night
the howling and barking of the numerous dogs in the streets of New
Orleans were observed to be fiercer than usual, and some of that class
of individuals who pretend to know everything, declared that by the
vivid flashes of the lightning, they had seen swiftly and stealthily
gliding toward the residence of the _unknown_ a body of men who wore
the scowling appearance of malefactors and ministers of blood. There
afterwards came also a report that a piratical-looking Turkish vessel
had been hovering a few days previous in the bay of Barataria. Be it
as it may, on the next morning the house of the stranger was deserted.
There were no traces of mortal struggle to be seen; but in the garden
the earth had been dug, and _there_ was the unmistakable indication of
a recent grave.
Soon, however, all doubts were removed by the finding of an
inscription in Arabic characters, engraved on a marble tablet, which
was subsequently sent to France. It ran thus: "The justice of heaven
is satisfied, and the date-tree shall grow on the traitor's tomb. The
sublime Emperor of the faithful, the supporter of the faith, the
omnipotent master and Sultan of the world, has redeemed his vow. God
is great, and Mohammed is his prophet. Allah!" Some time after this
event, a foreign-looking tree was seen to peep out of the spot where a
corpse must have been deposited in that stormy night, when the rage of
the elements yielded to the pitiless fury of man, and it thus
explained in some degree this part of the inscription, "the date-tree
shall grow on the traitor's grave."
Who was he, or what had he done, who had provoked such relentless and
far-seeking revenge? Ask Nemesis,--or, at that hour when evil spirits
are allowed to roam over the earth and magical invocations are made,
go and interrogate the tree of the dead.
MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY.
~1806=1873.~
MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY, the "Pathfinder of the Sea," was born in
Spottsylvania County, Virginia, reared in Tennessee, and entered the
Navy in 1825, rising to be lieutenant in 1837. In 1839 he met with an
accident which lamed him for life, and he thenceforward spent his time
in study and investigation of naval subjects. Under the pen-name of
"Harry Bluff," he wrote some essays for the "Southern Literary
Messenger," which produced great reforms in the Navy and led to the
establishment of the Naval Academy at Annapolis.
In 1842 he was appointed superintendent of the Hydrographical Office,
and in 1844, of the National Observatory, at Washington, the latter
position including the former. The observations of winds, currents,
and storms, which he caused to be made during nine years, are embodied
in his "Wind and Current Charts;" and the system thus begun was
adopted by all European countries and has proven of immense benefit
both to commerce and science.
[Illustration: ~Florida State Agricultural College (Main Building),
Lake City, Fla.~]
To him and to Lieutenant John M. Brooke, afterwards Com. Brooke,
C. S. N., belongs the credit of deep-sea soundings; and to him we owe
the suggestion of the submarine telegraphic cable across the Atlantic.
(_See below, letter to Secretary of the Navy._) Cyrus W. Field said,
at a dinner given in 1858 to celebrate the first cable message across
the Atlantic,--"Maury furnished the brains, England gave the money,
and I did the work."
His "Physical Geography of the Sea" has been translated into all the
languages of Europe, and caused Humboldt to say that Maury had founded
a new science. His researches and scientific labors gained him honors
and medals from all scientific societies. His "Navigation" and
"Geographies" are in popular use in our schools. His style is
irresistibly attractive, being clear, strong, elegant, and indicative
of truth in the man behind it.
He entered the Confederate service in 1861, and was employed at first
at Richmond and later as naval agent in Europe. When Lee surrendered,
he was in the West Indies on his way to put in use against Federal
vessels in Southern ports a method of arranging torpedo mines which he
had invented.
He then went to Mexico (1865) and took a position in the Cabinet of
the Emperor Maximilian; but the revolution there (1866) terminated his
relations with that government. After two years in England, he
returned to Virginia and in 1868 became professor of Physics in the
Virginia Military Institute. At this time the University of Cambridge
conferred upon him the degree of LL. D., and the Emperor of the French
invited him to Paris as superintendent of the Imperial Observatory.
His life has been written in a most engaging style by his daughter,
Mrs. Diana Fontaine Maury Corbin.
WORKS.
Navigation.
Scraps from the Lucky Bay, by Harry Bluff.
Rebuilding Southern Commerce.
Wind and Current Charts.
Sailing Directions.
Physical Geography of the Sea.
Series of Geographies.
Physical Survey of Virginia.
Resources of West Virginia (with Wm. M. Fontaine).
Lanes for Steamers Crossing the Atlantic.
Amazon and Atlantic Slopes.
Magnetism and the Circulation of the Atmosphere.
THE GULF STREAM.
(_From Sailing Directions._)
It is not necessary to associate with oceanic currents the idea that
they must of necessity, as on land, run from a higher to a lower
level. So far from this being the case, some currents of the sea
actually run up-hill, while others run on a level. The Gulf Stream is
of the first class. In a paper read before the National Institute in
1844, I showed why the bottom of the Gulf Stream ought, theoretically,
to be an inclined plane, running _upwards_. If the Gulf Stream be 200
fathoms deep in the Florida Pass, and but 100 fathoms off Hatteras, it
is evident that the bottom would be lifted 100 fathoms within that
distance; and therefore, while the bottom of the Gulf Stream runs
up-hill, the top preserves the water-level, or nearly so; for its
banks are of sea-water, and being in the ocean, are themselves on a
water-level. . .
. . . . . . .
I have also, on a former occasion, pointed out the fact, that,
inasmuch as the Gulf Stream is a bed of warm water, lying between
banks of cold water--that as warm water is lighter than
cold--therefore, the surface of the Gulf Stream ought, theoretically,
to be in the shape of a double inclined plane, like the roof a house,
down which we may expect to find a shallow surface or roof current,
running from the middle towards either edge of the stream.
The fact that this roof-current does exist has been fully
established . . . . . . by officers of the navy. Thus, in lowering a
boat to try a current, they found that the boat would invariably be
drifted towards one side or other of the stream, while the vessel
herself was drifted along in the direction of it. . .
This feature of the Gulf Stream throws a gleam of light upon the
_locus_ of the Gulf Previous Next |