Page:A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.pdf/70

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56
LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY.

science of navigation, and also prove the reliance which may be placed upon the Wind and Current Charts of Lieutenant Maury, whose sailing directions both vessels followed."

During the last ten years of his service at the United States Naval Observatory, the world rang with the fame of Maury's "Wind and Current Charts" and "Sailing Directions". When considered merely with reference to the amount of money saved to the commerce of the world, by their use, their value can scarcely be exaggerated. Hunt's Merchant's Magazine of May 1854 says:—"Now let us make a calculation of the annual saving to the commerce of the United States by shortening the voyages 15 days, owing to the use of these charts. The average freight from the United States to Rio Janeiro is 17·7 cents per ton per day; to Australia, 20 cents; to California, 20 cents. The mean of this is a little over 19 cents per ton per day. But to be within the mark, we will take it at 15 cents, and include all the ports of South America, China, and the East Indies. We estimate the tonnage of the United States engaged in trade with these places at 1,000,000 tons per annum. With these data we see that there has been effected a saving for each of those tons of 13 cents a day for a period of 15 days, which will give an aggregate of $2,250,000 saved per annum. This is on the outward voyage alone; and the tonnage trading with all other parts of the world is also left out of the calculation. Take these into consideration, and also the fact that there is a vast amount of foreign tonnage trading between those places and the United States, and it will be seen that the annual sum saved will swell to an enormous amount."

Several years later this was confirmed at a reunion of distinguished scientific men, held in honor of him in London, where it was stated by Sir John Pakington, the Chairman, "That the practical results of the researches