Isaac Grier Strain was born March 4, 1821, in Roxbury, Franklin County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, of Scots-Irish origin, and died May 14, 1857, in Aspinwall, (alternative name of Colón, Panama) Colombia. At age 17 he joined the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

to apprentice at sea; he became a midshipman. Naturally inclined toward exploration, he commanded an 1843 (1845 by some sources) exploratory expedition to the interior of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Province of São Paulo. In 1848 he began an exploration of the peninsula of Lower

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

; he worked with the U.S. Mexican Boundary Commission. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1850. Lieutenant Strain was a Corresponding Member of the

Academy of Natural Sciences The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natura ...

of Philadelphia; the Historical and Geographical Institute of Brazil; and the

American Ethnological Society The American Ethnological Society (AES) is the oldest professional anthropological association in the United States. History of the American Ethnological Society Albert Gallatin and John Russell Bartlett founded the American Ethnological Societ ...

of New York. In 1849 he explored parts of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

and wrote ''Cordillera and Pampa, Mountain and Plain: Sketches of a Journey in Chili and The Argentine Provinces in 1849'', published in New York in 1853. Leading a United States at peace, and in exercise of Manifest Destiny to expand from the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

seaboard to the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

Ocean, U. S. President Franklin Pierce envisioned an Atlantic to Pacific canal route through the Isthmus of Darién, a region also known as the

Darién Gap The Darién Gap (, , es, Tapón del Darién , ) is a geographic region between the North and South American continents within Central America, consisting of a large watershed, forest, and mountains in Panama's Darién Province and the norther ...

, located in Colombia, presently

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

. Henceforth, Secretary of the Navy James C. Dobbin in late 1853 ordered Lieutenant Strain to form and lead the United States Navy Darien Exploring Expedition in 1854. Setting forth from the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Darién, his expedition into the Isthmus of Darién began January 20, 1854. It was in the densely jungled Darién that

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

had sent explorers of their own. The Englishman Gisborne had put pen to perhaps fallacious or inaccurate, but certainly misleading, journals that would lend ambiguity and deaths to Strain's route for traversing the Gap. The Strain party, in part proceeding upon Gisborne's records, wandered circuitously, split, and became plagued by deteriorating equipment, unreliable and often dangerous native guides, malnourishment, foot-soreness, flesh-embedding parasites, and infectious tropical diseases. Six of Strain's party of 27 died by starvation. The courageous but ill-fated expedition nevertheless contributed to future establishments of land routes, a railroad, and the eventual linking of the

and

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

s by a

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

. The canal was completed in 1914, 60 years after Strain's expedition.

Notes

*Commander

Matthew Fontaine Maury Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806February 1, 1873) was an American oceanographer and naval officer, serving the United States and then joining the Confederacy during the American Civil War. He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and i ...

of the

United States Naval Observatory United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depo ...

pushed hard for the Darién Expedition of 1854 (as he also did with

William Lewis Herndon Commander William Lewis Herndon (25 October 1813 – 12 September 1857) was one of the United States Navy's outstanding explorers and seamen. In 1851 he led a United States expedition to the Valley of the Amazon, and prepared a report published ...

's exploration of the Valley of the Amazon ) to the Secretary of the Navy. His nephew, s:Darien Exploring Expedition (1854) Lieutenant John Minor Maury USN, (not to be confused with Lieutenant

John Minor Maury John Minor Maury (1795 – 23 June 1824) was a lieutenant in the United States Navy. What has been described as "a very interesting sketch" of his career was given by James Edmonds Saunders in his late 19th-century work ''Early Settlers of Alab ...

USN, M. F. Maury's _brother_ who died of malaria while in the U. S. Navy) had been working at the Naval Observatory with his uncle Matthew and was well prepared with both knowledge and equipment. Lieutenant Maury was appointed by Strain as the expedition's 1st assistant-engineer, as well as assistant-astronomer and secretary. Lieutenant Strain later worked on another project for Commander M F Maury, taking depth soundings of the ocean floor of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

that were compiled into sea-floor charts. *The U.S. Naval Observatory was also known as the National Observatory. Both terms were used for ten years until an order was finally passed down to use Naval Observatory. This is why many old writings of that time use "National Observatory", the original name given when President

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States ...

signed the bill for its creation. * Middle name (Grier) source: The New York Times Jan.7, 1859

References

* s:Darien Exploring Expedition (1854) United States Navy Darien Exploring Expedition of the Isthmus of Panama 1854. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Darien_Exploring_Expedition_(1854) *Balf, Todd; ''The Darkest Jungle: The True Story of The Darien Expedition and America's Ill-Fated Race to Connect The Seas'', 2003, Crown Publishers, New York, . *Crosby, Hon. Nathan; ''Annual Obituary Notices of Eminent Persons who Have Died in the United States Navy, for 1857,'' Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Company, 1858, Appendix to v. (p. 08432) includes obituary notices for the years 1851 to 1857. *Strain, Isaac G.; ''Cordillera and Pampa, Mountain and Plain: Sketches of a Journey in Chili and The Argentine Provinces in 1849'', New York: Horace H. Moore, 1853; Lightning Source, Inc., 2007, ; . {{DEFAULTSORT:Strain, Isaac Grier 1821 births 1857 deaths American explorers United States Navy officers