The Physical Geography of the Sea
Matthew Fontaine Maury
The primary object ofT heW ind and Current Charts, out of which has grown this Treatise on the Physical Geography of theS ea, was to collect the experience of every navigator as to the winds and currents of the ocean, to discuss his observations upon them, and then to present the world with the results on charts for the improvement of commerce and navigation. II. A ccordingly, when this object was made known, and an appeal was addressed to mariners, there was a flight up into the garrets, and a ransackmg of time-honored sea-chests in all the maritime communities of the country for old log-books and sea journals. III. It was supposed that the records therein contained as to winds and weather, the sea and its currents, would afford the information requisite for such an undertaking. lY. By putting down on a chart the tracks of many vessels on the same voyage, but at different times, in different years, and during all seasons, and by projecting along each track the winds and currents daily encountered, it was plain that navigators hereafter, by consulting this chart, would have for their guide the results of the combined experience of all whose tracks were thus pointed out. V. Perhaps it might be the first voyage of a young navigator to the given port, when his own personal experience of the winds to be expected, the currents to be encountered by the way, would itself be blank. If so, there would be the wind and current chart. It would spread out before him the tracks of a thousand vessels that had preceded him on the same voyage, wherever it might be. and that, too, at the same season of the year.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the