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From De Meissner’s “Old Naval Days,” through courtesy of Henry Holt and Company.

U. S. S. “Brandywine,” Commander Biddle, off Malta, November 6, 1831; and U. S. S. “Concord,” Captain Perry, in Background

When he arrived at his destination in Washington, the Secretary of the Navy allowed him fifteen cents a mile as mileage from Franklin, Tennessee, and this fairly put Maury’s head above water financially. After a short visit with relatives here, he went on to New York where he had been ordered to report on board the U. S. Frigate Brandywine.

Here he arrived August 13, 1825, and at once entered into active service in the profession which he had chosen. He has left no record as to what his thoughts and feelings were during those weeks when he, a lad from the West who had never seen a ship before, was adjusting himself to those new and strange surroundings. But that he had made up his mind to succeed in his chosen career, whether he liked it or not, is evident from this sentiment which occurs more than once in his letters: “... to the old rule with which I set out on horseback from Tennessee in 1825, a fresh midshipman, ‘Make everything bend to your profession’”.