Page:A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.pdf/213

Rh

warfare was re-introduced to the world by our civil war, and it was the practical mind of Maury which appreciated its power and developed its efficiency. The Federal Secretary of the Navy (in his Report, December 4th, 1865) stated that, during the war, their "navy lost more vessels by torpedoes than from all other causes whatever."

In pursuance of his plan for torpedo defence, Maury, soon after his arrival in Richmond, sent an agent to New York to purchase a quantity of insulating wire. The agent was foiled in his mission, and returned empty-handed.

There was neither wire-factory nor insulating material in the South, and though an establishment for the manufacture of the former was soon put in operation, yet, all the Southern ports having been placed under blockade, it was impossible to obtain either gutta-percha or india-rubber from abroad,