First edition. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: "Walter R. Jones from his friend the Author". Jones was president of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company and had a sustained correspondence with Maury on establishing shipping lanes as a way to prevent collisions. In a letter dated 8 November 1854 Jones asked Maury to proceed with his proposal of charting one-way trans-Atlantic lanes (Frances Leigh Williams, Matthew Fontaine Maury: Scientist of the Sea, 196, p. 564). Maury became a midshipman in 1825 and accompanied the Vincennes on her circumnavigation. In 1842 he was made Superintendent of the Depot of Charts and Instruments of the Navy Department, with additional responsibility for the new Naval Observatory. "His interest in hydrographic and meteorological work induced him to issue his 'Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic' in 1847. In the following year he issued sailing directions for use with his chart under the title Log for the Use of American Navigators (...) His charts and sailing directions made possible considerable savings in travel time and gained enthusiasm of mariners of many nations." (Kemp, Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea) His success led to an international conference on oceanography in Brussels in 1853 where his uniform system of recording oceanographic data was adopted for all naval and merchant vessels. With the publication of the present book - "which includes a general discussion about coastlines, tides, currents, and other phases of the ocean and its life. In addition, Maury, with the help of three lines measured for the laying of the transatlantic cables, sketched the first section and the first map of the floor of the Atlantic Ocean" (Sparrow). His work was recognised internationally with numerous medals and honorary degrees. An interesting association copy of a title rarely found inscribed.
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