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 Maury by the governments of foreign countries.
It will be remembered that when Maury took up his first appointment as sailing-master, he observed the want of trustworthy charts to show the winds and currents encountered by mariners. He then resolved, if an opportunity was allowed him, to supply this great desideratum from the old ship's log books which, since the establishment of the United States Navy, had been stored away in the Hydrographic Department as rubbish.
He now extracted, with much labor, all the valuable information they contained. He also collected data relative to the voyage between the United States and Rio de Janeiro from every reliable source. The first chart of his series and the first sailing directions were at length completed. They were not at first appreciated; but Captain Jackson, commanding the ship 'H.W.D.C. Wright' of Baltimore, determined to trust the new chart and follow the new track.
The experiment was a complete success, for he made the voyage out and back in the time often consumed by the old traders in the outward passage alone. There was now no hesitation about the use of the new charts and sailing directions which were furnished as they were issued, to the masters of vessels bound for foreign ports, who were invited to join in collecting data for making other charts and new sailing directions.
