by Ian Loft

Created on: April 15, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

The major form of international imports, exports and travel in the 19th century was by sea. A journey from Baltimore in the United States to Brazil was an arduous sea voyage of more than 120 days using the fastest clipper ships of the day. This changed dramatically when a cargo ship "W.H.D.C. Wright" returned to Baltimore from Brazil with a cargo of coffee in 75 days this was over a month ahead of schedule.

This record breaking trip was possible because of scientific findings published by one Mathew Fontaine Maury in which detailed observations and measurements that proposed a new route where favourable currents and offshore winds greatly reduced time at sea. News of this swift passage galvanised the sea trade industry and before long, almost every commercial voyage followed the new sea routes it seemed that Mathew Fontaine Maury had unlocked many mysteries of the seas.

Born in Spottsylvania County on January 24, 1806, Mathew became interested in mathematics early in his life. At the age of twelve, he was sent to famous Harpeth Academy in Tennessee where he was instructed by some of the finest teachers of the day. Attaining a midshipman's warrant in the United States Navy in 1825, Matthew followed the path of his older brother pursuing a career in the Navy. Assigned to sea duty a the age of 19, the first voyage aboard the Brandywine', a new 44-gun frigate, was in the Autumn of 1825.

It was on his second voyage that Mathew transferred to the sloop Vincennes, known at the time as the fastest ship in the navy, and the ship's library stocked with books on navigation, mathematics and trigonometry inspired more study during free time. Before long, Mathew began experimenting and proving concepts of spherical geometry using cannon balls from the ship's guns. Taking careful notes from his observations, Mathew recorded wind and sea currents as the Vincennes sailed through the South China Sea, East Indies, Indian Ocean and past the Cape of Good Hope to the South Atlantic.

On a third sea voyage in 1831, Mathew recorded distance, current and wind observations from the sloop Falmouth' while maintaining a diligent comparison with charts as he sought out noted errors. When the Falmouth' reached Cape Horn in October 1831, Mathew, who was by this time ship's navigator, sailed south toward the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica in order to avoid westerly gales. It was through this action that more favourable winds provided a final clue that culminated in what became one of the most

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