United States Exploring Expedition

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The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean ("the Southern Seas") conducted by the United States Navy from 1838–1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones. The voyage, was authorized by Congress in 1836. It is sometimes called the "Ex. Ex." for short, or "the Wilkes Expedition" in honor of its next appointed commanding officer, U.S. Navy Lt. Charles Wilkes (1798–1877). The expedition was of major importance to the growth of science in the United States.

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[edit] Preparations

In May, 1828, the United States Congress, after prodding by President John Quincy Adams, voted to send an expedition around the world, it was with the understanding that the country would derive great benefit. It was to promote commerce and to offer protection to the heavy investment in the whaling and seal hunting industries, chiefly in the Pacific Ocean. Congress also agreed that a public ship or ships should be used. At the time, the only ships owned by the government capable of such a circumnavigation were those of the U.S. Navy. So, in fact, Congress had decided that a naval expedition be authorized. There were to be many unforeseen impediments and it was not until May 18, 1836, that an act was passed, which authorized funding. Even with the burden of finance lifted, there were another two years of alteration of formation and command before six oddly-assorted ships moved down from Norfolk to Hampton Roads on August 9, 1838. On August 17, after being joined by the tenders (Sea Gull and Flying-Fish) Lt. Wilkes received his final orders and at 15:00 hours the afternoon of August 18 the vessels weighed anchor. Due to light breezes the expedition did not discharge their pilots until 09:00 August 19 when they passed Cape Henry Light. By 11:00 the small fleet was standing to open seas.

Originally the Expedition was first organized under Commodore Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, however he subsequently resigned the station. Several more senior officers had either resigned from or indicated their unwillingness to accept command of the expedition. Command was finally vested in U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes. The three duties laid down were daunting to officers trained only in fighting ships. In addition to exploration, the naval squadron was tasked with the duties to survey both the newly found areas and survey other areas previously discovered, but about which there was insufficient knowledge. As well, a scientific corps, comprised of all civilians, was to be included an additional command responsibility. There were few officers in the U.S. Navy at that time with any surveying experience and none with a background of working alongside scientists. The United States Coast Survey, where most of the surveyors were employed and learned their trade, was a civilian organization. Wilkes, who had largely trained himself in surveying work, cut the excessively large number of scientists down to nine. He then reserved for himself, and other naval officers, some of the scientific duties, including all those connected with surveying and cartography.

Personnel included naturalists, botanists, a mineralogist, taxidermists and a philologist, and was carried by the sloops-of-war Vincennes (780 tons) and Peacock (650 tons), the brig Porpoise (230 tons), the store-ship Relief, and two tenders, Sea Gull (110 tons) and Flying Fish (96 tons).

[edit] Route of the expedition

Upon clearing the Cape Henry Light at 09:00 on Saturday, August 19, 1838, Lt. Wilkes laid in his course for Rio de Janeiro. By orders, he was to survey certain reported vigias, or shoals at latitude 10° South and between longitudes 18° and 22° West. Due to the prevailing winds at this season, the Squadron made an easterly tack of the Atlantic.

The Squadron arrived at the harbor of Funchal Madeira Islands on September 16, 1838. After completing some repairs the group moved southward and arrived on October 7 at the bay of Porto Praya, Cape Verde Islands eventually arriving at Rio de Janeiro on November 23. The entire passage from the United States to Brazil taking 95 days, about twice the time normally for a vessel proceeding directly. Due to repairs needed by the Peacock, the Squadron did not leave Rio de Janerio until January 6, 1839. From there they moved southward to Buenos Aries and the mouth of the Río Negro River, passing a French Naval blockade of the Argentine Republic's seaport. The European powers at the time, with the aid of Brazil, were involved in the internal affairs of the Argentine Republic. However, since the US Squadron had reduced its military profile prior to its departure from the United States, they were not molested by the French warships.

Following this beginning, the Squadron visited Tierra del Fuego, Chile, and Peru. The USS Sea Gull and its crew of fifteen were lost during a South American coastal storm in May, 1839. From South America, the expedition visited the Tuamotu Archipelago, Samoa and New South Wales, Australia. In December 1839, the expedition sailed from Sydney into the Antarctic Ocean and reported the discovery "of an Antarctic continent west of the Balleny Islands". That part of Antarctica was later named "Wilkes Land". Because of discrepancies in the logs of the various ships of the Wilkes expedition, and suggestions that these may have been subsequently altered, it is uncertain whether the Wilkes expedition, or the French expedition of Jules Dumont d'Urville, was the first to sight the Antarctic mainland coast in this vicinity. The controversy was added to by the actions of the commander of the USS Porpoise, Lieutenant Ringgold, who, after sighting d'Urville's Astrolabe deliberately avoided contact.

Following this, the expedition visited Fiji. In July 1840, two members of the party, Lieutenant Underwood and Wilkes' nephew, Midshipman Wilkes Henry, were killed while bartering for food in western Fiji's Malolo Island. The cause of this event remains equivocal. Immediately prior to their deaths the son of the local chief, who was being held as a hostage by the Americans, escaped by jumping out of the boat and running through the shallow water for shore. The Americans fired over his head. According to members of the expedition party on the boat, his escape was intended as a prearranged signal by the Fijians to attack. According to those on shore the shooting actually precipitated the attack on the shore party. Close to 80 Fijians were killed in the resulting American reprisal and some villages were burned to the ground.[1] After Fiji, the expedition sailed to Hull Island, later known as Orona, and the Hawaiian Islands.

Pacific Northwest: 1841 Map of the Oregon Territory from "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition." Philadelphia: 1845
Pacific Northwest: 1841 Map of the Oregon Territory
from "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition." Philadelphia: 1845

In 1841, the expedition explored the west coast of the United States, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, and the Columbia River.

Like his predecessor, British explorer George Vancouver, Wilkes spent a good deal of time near Bainbridge Island. He noted the bird-like shape of the harbor at Winslow and named it Eagle Harbor. Continuing his fascination with bird names, he named Bill Point and Wing Point. Port Madison, Washington and Points Monroe and Jefferson named in honor of former U.S. presidents. Port Ludlow was assigned to honor Lt. Augustus Ludlow, who lost his life in an 1813 sea battle.

The Peacock was lost in July 1841 on the Columbia River, though with no loss of life, thanks to a canoe rescue by John Dean, an African American servant of the Vincennes purser, and a group of Chinook Indians. Dean also rescued the expedition's artist, Alfred Agate, along with his paintings and drawings. Upon learning that the Peacock had foundered on the Columbia River Bar, Wilkes interrupted his work in the San Juan Islands and sailed south. He never returned to Puget Sound.

From the area of modern-day Portland, Oregon, an overland party headed by George F. Emmons was directed to proceed via an inland route to San Francisco Bay. This Emmons party traveled south along the Siskiyou Trail, including the Sacramento River, making the first official recorded visit by Americans to and scientific note of Mt. Shasta, in northern California.

The Emmons party rejoined the ships, which had sailed south, in San Francisco. The expedition then headed back out into the Pacific, including a visit to Wake Island in 1841, and returned by way of the Philippines, the Sulu Archipelago, Borneo, Singapore, Polynesia and the Cape of Good Hope, reaching New York on June 10, 1842.

The expedition throughout was plagued by poor relationships between Wilkes and his subordinate officers. Wilkes' self-proclaimed status as "Captain" and "Commodore" (accompanied by the flying of the requisite pennant and the wearing of a Captain's uniform while being commissioned only as a Lieutenant) rankled heavily with other members of the expedition of similar real rank. His apparent mistreatment of many of his subordinates, and indulgence in exercises such as "flogging round the fleet" resulted in a major controversy on his return to America.[1] Wilkes was court-martialled on his return, but was acquitted on all charges except that of illegally punishing men in his squadron.

[edit] The publication program

For a short time Wilkes was attached to the Coast Survey, but from 1844 to 1861 he was chiefly engaged in preparing the report of the expedition. Twenty-eight volumes were planned but only nineteen were published. Of these Wilkes wrote the Narrative (1845) and the volumes Hydrography and Meteorology (1851). The Narrative contains much interesting material concerning the manners and customs and political and economic conditions in many places then little known. Other valuable contributions were the three reports of James Dwight Dana on Zoophytes (1846), Geology (1849) and Crustacea (1852–1854).

In addition to many shorter articles and reports, Wilkes published the major scientific works Western America, including California and Oregon (1849) and Theory of the Winds (1856).

[edit] Significance of the expedition

The Wilkes Expedition played a major role in development of 19th-century science, particularly in the growth of the U.S. scientific establishment. Many of the species and other items found by the expedition helped formed the basis of collections at the new Smithsonian Institution.

With the help of the expedition's scientists, derisively called "clam diggers" and "bug catchers" by navy crewmembers, 280 islands (mostly in the Pacific Ocean) were explored, and over 800 miles of Oregon were mapped. Of no less importance, over 60,000 plant and bird specimens were collected. A staggering amount of data and specimens were collected during the expedition, including the seeds of 648 species, which were later traded, planted, and sent throughout the country. Dried specimens were sent to the National Herbarium, now a part of the Smithsonian Institution. There were also 254 live plants, which mostly came from the home stretch of the journey, that were placed in a newly constructed greenhouse in 1850, which later became the United States Botanic Garden.

[edit] The Expedition in popular culture

The Wiki Coffin novels of Joan Druett are set on a fictional 7th ship accompanying the expedition.

[edit] Ships

[edit] Some members of the United States Exploring Expedition

[edit] Naval Officers

[edit] Engravers & Illustrators

[edit] Scientific Corps

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Philbrick, N., Sea of Glory, Viking, 2003
 This article or section is missing citations or needs footnotes.
Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (December 2007)

[edit] Books and publications

  • Bagley, Clarence B. (1957). History of King County, Washington. S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. 
  • Barkan, Frances B. (1987). The Wilkes Expedition: Puget Sound and the Oregon Country. Washington State Capital Museum. 
  • Bertrand, Kenneth John (1971). Americans in Antarctica, 1775–1948. American Geographical Society. 
  • Borthwick, Doris Esch (1965). Outfitting the United States Exploring Expedition: Lieutenant Charles Wilkes' European assignment, August–November, 1836. Lancaster Press. 
  • Brokenshire, Doug (1993). Washington State Place Names: From Alki to Yelm. Caxton Press. 
  • Colvocoresses, George M. (1855). Four years in the government exploring expedition: Commanded by Captain Charles Wilkes, to the island of Madeira, Cape Verd Island, Brazil. J.M. Fairchild. 
  • Goetzmann, William H. (1986). New Lands, New Men — America And The Second Great Age Of Discovery. Viking. 
  • Gurney, Alan (2000). The Race to the White Continent: Voyages to the Antarctic. Norton. 
  • Haskell, Daniel C. (1968). The United States Exploring Expedition, 1838–1842 and Its Publications 1844–1874. Greenwood Press. 
  • Haskett, Patrick J. (1974). The Wilkes Expedition in Puget Sound, 1841. State Capitol Museum. 
  • Henderson, Charles (1953). The Hidden Coasts: A Biography of Admiral Charles Wilkes. William Sloane Assoc.. 
  • Jenkins, John S. (1856). Explorations and Adventures in and about the Pacific and Antarctic Oceans: Voyage of the U.S. Exploring Squadron, 1838–1842. New York: Hurst & Company. 
  • Jenkins, John S. (1853). United States Exploring Expeditions: Voyage of the U.S. Exploring Squadron. Kerr, Doughty & Lapham. 
  • Jenkins, John S. (1852). Voyage of the U.S. Exploring Squadron Commanded by Captain Charles Wilkes ... In 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841 and 1842. Alden, Beardsley & Co.. 
  • Kruckeberg, Arthur R. (1995). The Natural History of Puget Sound Country. University of Washington Press. 
  • Mitterling, Philip I. (1957). America in the Antarctic to 1840. 
  • Morgan, Murray; Daniel Wilkes (1981). Puget's Sound: A Narrative of Early Tacoma and the Southern Sound. University of Washington Press. 
  • Perry, Fredi (2002). Bremerton and Puget Sound Navy Yard. Perry Publishing. 
  • Philbrick, Nathaniel (2003). Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838–1842. Viking Adult. ISBN 0-670-03231-X. 
  • Pickering, Charles (1863). The geographical distribution of animals and plants (United States exploring expedition, 1838–1842, under the command of Charles Wilkes). Trübner and Company. 
  • Poesch, Jessie Peale (1961). Titian Ramsay Peale And His Journals of The Wilkes Expedition, 1799–1885. American Philosophical Society. 
  • Reynolds, William; Nathaniel Philbrick (2004). The Private Journal of William Reynolds: United States Exploring Expedition, 1838–1842. Penguin Classics. 
  • Ritter, Harry (2003). Washington's History: The People, Land, and Events of the Far Northwest. Westwinds Press. 
  • Schwantes, Carlos Arnaldo (2000). The Pacific Northwest: An Interpretive History. University of Nebraska Press. 
  • Sellers, Charles Coleman (1980). Mr. Peale's Museum. W. W. Norton & Company. 
  • Stanton, William Ragan (1975). The Great United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842. University of California Press. 
  • Tyler, David B. (1968). The Wilkes Expedition: The First United States Exploring Expedition (1838 - 1842). American Philosophical Society. 
  • Viola, H.J. "The Wilkes Expedition on the Pacific Coast," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, January 1989.
  • Viola, Herman J.; Carolyn Margolis (1985). Magnificent Voyagers: The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838–1842. Smithsonian. 
  • Wilkes, Charles (1851). Voyage round the world, Embracing the principal events of the narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. G.P. Putnam. 

[edit] External links

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