John Minor Maury

John Minor Maury (1795 – 1823) was an officer in the United States Navy whose career was cut short by Yellow fever. In 1888, fictionalized versions of his life story were published by his son,Dabney H. Maury, and his niece, Diana Fontaine Maury Corbin, and the sensational stories became Maury's de-facto biography for over 130 years. Biography John Minor Maury was born in 1795 (exact date unknown) near Fredericksburg, Virginia, to Richard Maury (son of Rev. James Maury) and Diana (Minor) Maury (daughter of General John Minor). He was appointed midshipman in the spring of 1809, on a warrant backdated to 16 January (a common practice in the navy at the time), and he was assigned to the USS United States. In June 1811, Maury obtained a furlough and sailed on the merchant ship Pennsylvania Packet, commanded by [US Navy lieutenant] William Lewis, who was also on furlough. After trading for several weeks in Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro, they sailed to Macau, arriving there on April 12, 1812. Once at Macau, they were informed of a recent sandalwood discovery by their agent, James Wilcocks, and at the end of May the Packet departed on what Lewis described as "a secret expedition." The Packet arrived at Tahuata Island in the Marquesas on September 25, 1812, and probably reached Nuku Hiva the following day. For four months they attempted to trade with the natives for sandalwood, but their success was limited because their trade goods were of little value to the island's chiefs. One thing that the chiefs did value, however, were whales' teeth.