William Lewis Maury

William Lewis Maury (1813 – November 27, 1878) was an American explorer and naval officer who served in the United States Navy for over 20 years, then resigned to take an officer's commission in the Confederate States Navy. Maury assisted Charles Wilkes' exploration of the Pacific Ocean and acted as attaché to Matthew C. Perry's 1856 naval mission to Japan.

Legacy

As a member of Wilkes' expedition, the Maury name was applied to a discovered feature of Puget Sound, Maury Island. In the 20th century, an ice-filled bay east of Cape Lewis, Antarctica, Maury Bay, was named after the explorer.

Career

Served in the United States Naval Observatory, U. S. Navy under his cousin, superintendent Matthew Fontaine Maury, in charting the seas, cartography, and in recording astronomical observations.

In the famed The United States Exploring Expedition then Lieutenant W. L. Maury served under Charles Wilkes from 1838-1842. He served on the ships Vincennes; joined the Peacock at Orange Bay, and the Porpoise at Callao.

Maury Island was named for him in May 1841.

When war came he served in the Confederate States C. S. Navy as Commander of the ship, C.S.S. Georgia, a commerce raider, captured and sank several ships while letting others with commerce not for war allowed to go free.

Notes

Note:Recollections of a Rebel Reefer (1917 book) about Captain William Lewis Maury commanding CSS Georgia commerce raider with their actions in detail. This book tells a large part of William Lewis Maury's life in the Confederacy. Others are included such as Matthew Fontaine Maury as an agent purchasing ships with James Dunwoody Bulloch. Book by former midshipman, CSN on CSS Georgia, James Morris Morgan, is on Wikisource as well as Internet Archives [1] and "Documenting the American South" [2]