Source: Leighly, J. (ed) (1963) The Physical Geography of the Sea and its Meteorology by Matthew Fontaine Maury, 8th Edition, Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. Cited by R.D. Knowles (2005) "Transport Shaping Space", Fleming Lecture in Transportation Geography, AAG Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado.

Impacts of Maury's Navigation Charts on Sailing Time, 1850s

The navigator Matthew Fontaine Maury collected between 1842 and 1861 an extensive array of ship logs which enabled him to chart prevailing winds and sea currents, as well as their seasonal variations. Many of this information appeared in "The Physical Geography of the Sea", published in 1855. Such knowledge enabled to considerably shorten sailing time, especially over long distance travel. For instance, a journey from New York to Rio de Janeiro was reduced by 32 days, without any technical improvements on the ship, but by simply taking advantage of winds and sea currents. The outcome was the creation of relatively well defined navigation routes.

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