Maritime navigation

Oceanography, the study of seas and oceans as an integrated environment with its natural, chemical, geological, biological, and other aspects, is considered by some Western historians to be a modern science with no roots in the history of previous civilizations. The Italians claim that the true founder of oceanography was their compatriot, Luigi Fernando Marsigli (1658-1730), who authored a treatise on the subject titled “Natural History of the Sea.” The British assert that Sir John Murray was the primary figure responsible for establishing this important field of study when he oversaw the three-and-a-half-year voyage of the British research vessel Challenger, from December 1872 to May 1876, during which he conducted a comprehensive study of the world’s oceans.

The Americans, however, claim that the US Navy officer Matthews Fontaine Murray… Maury (1806-1873) is the one most deserving of this credit, as he collected a lot of information from the “captains” of ships by virtue of his work as supervisor of the Maritime Observatory in Washington, and wrote a book about it entitled “The Physical Geography of the Sea.” The truth of the matter, which is immersed in these historical fallacies, is that the relationship of man with the sea is as old as human history itself, especially since this relationship has been strengthened and developed over time after man found in the sea a source of livelihood and a means of transportation, so he became familiar with it and dared to ride it and travel in it.