The Pinchot South Sea Expedition was a 1929 zoological expedition to the Caribbean and South Pacific led and financed by
Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsy ...
.Pinchot South Sea Expedition 1929, Collections Search Center, Smithsonian Institution /ref>
Itinerary and personnel
The expedition departed from
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on 31 March 1929 aboard the Pinchots' yacht ''Mary Pinchot''. Gifford Pinchot organized, financed, and led the expedition, which collected zoological specimens (and a few botanical specimens) for the U.S.
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...
. The captain was Frederick A. Brown of
Port Jefferson, New York
Port Jefferson (informally known as "Port Jeff") is an incorporated village in the town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. Officially known as the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson, the population ...
, and the chief engineer was Henry Christensen. Aboard ship, besides the captain and crew, were Gifford Pinchot, his wife and fellow conservationist
Cornelia Bryce Pinchot
Cornelia Elizabeth Bryce Pinchot (August 20, 1881 – September 9, 1960), also known as “Leila Pinchot,” was a 20th-century American conservationist, Progressive politician, and women’s rights activist who played a key role in the improv ...
, their son Gifford Pinchot, Jr. (1916–1989), and Pinchot Jr.'s schoolmate Steve Stahlnecker. The expedition's photographer was Howard H. Cleaves, and its physician was J. B. Mathewson. The expedition's professional scientists were the malacologist Henry A. Pilsbry and the ornithologists A. K. Fisher and
Alexander Wetmore
Frank Alexander Wetmore (June 18, 1886 – December 7, 1978) was an American ornithologist and avian paleontologist. He was the sixth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
Early life and education
The son of a Country Physician, Frank Ale ...
. Harry A. Slattery accompanied the expedition from New York City to
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 Cos ...
. The yacht ''Mary Pinchot'' visited
Key West
Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...
(for a few days undergoing minor yacht repairs) and then
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
(for a one-day tourist trip). The expedition then visited
Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles ( ...
Isla de Providencia
Isla de Providencia, historically Old Providence, and generally known as Providencia, is a mountainous Caribbean island that is part of the Colombian department of Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina and the municipality o ...
and Isla de San Andrés for collecting specimens. The ''Mary Pinchot'' went through the Panama Canal and then to
Cocos Island
Cocos Island ( es, Isla del Coco) is an island in the Pacific Ocean administered by Costa Rica, approximately southwest of the Costa Rican mainland. It constitutes the 11th of the 13 districts of Puntarenas Canton of the Province of Puntarenas ...
Marquesas
The Marquesas Islands (; french: Îles Marquises or ' or '; Marquesan: ' ( North Marquesan) and ' ( South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in t ...
, and
Tuamotus
The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (french: Îles Tuamotu, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extendin ...
. The expedition reached its final destination,
Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...
, on October 15. Before the end of October, Pinchot's party departed Tahiti and then returned by steamer to San Francisco. By early November, Pinchot and his family were in
Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Captain Brown and the crew of the ''Mary Pinchot'' went back through the Panama Canal and arrived at the yacht's winter station at
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
in December 1929.
Documentary of the expedition
Howard Cleaves documented the expedition with a motion picture film that was shown in movie theaters throughout the United States. Cornelia Bryce Pinchot gave free talks with showings of Cleaves's documentary film.
Mordaunt Hall
Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.Doris Cochran named '' Anolis pinchoti''.
The expedition discovered the fish species ''Entomacrodus corneliae'', which Henry Fowler named ''Giffordella corneliae''.
The expedition's malacologist Pilsbry identified several new mollusk species, including the genus ''
Giffordius
''Giffordius'' is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Polygyridae.
The two known species, found on Isla de Providencia (or Old Providence), were named after the early conservationist a ...
'' (two species) and ''Chionopsis pinchoti''. Pilsbry's claim of a new species ''Drymaeus pinchoti'' is rejected in favor of the subspecies ''Drymaeus rufescens pinchoti''; ''Codakia pinchoti'' is rejected in favor of ''Codakia distinguenda''.
A. K. Fisher and Alexander Wetmore, with the assistance of Pinchot Sr. and Jr., collected approximately 500 bird skins and skeletons and a few eggs; Fisher made detailed field notes.