As students, we are invariably reminded of Mathew Fontaine Maury, who is canonized for standardizing, collecting and publishing ships’ observations of surface drift. Regarded in isolation, this seems a mundane accountant’s task, not at all characteristic of a seaman’s romantic or literary passions. But it is a historical misperception to limit Maury in this way. Hark back a century, open your reader, and pay attention to the recitation. Hear the Lieutenant speaking to American youth about the sea breeze in a far-away land…

Brooks, D.A. 1988. Retrospective. Oceanography 1(2):39, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.1988.08.

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