Wilkes Exploring Expedition

The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones. Funding for the original expedition was requested by President John Quincy Adams in 1828; however, Congress would not implement funding until eight years later. In May 1836, the oceanic exploration voyage was finally authorized by Congress and created by President Andrew Jackson.

The expedition is sometimes called the U.S. Ex. Ex. for short, or the Wilkes Expedition in honor of its next appointed commanding officer, United States Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes. The expedition was of major importance to the growth of science in the United States, in particular the then-young field of oceanography. During the event, armed conflict between Pacific islanders and the expedition was common and dozens of natives were killed in action, as well as a few Americans.

Preparations

Through the lobbying efforts of Jeremiah N. Reynolds, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution on May 21, 1828, requesting President John Quincy Adams to send a ship to explore the Pacific. Adams was keen on the resolution and ordered his Secretary of the Navy to ready a ship, the ''Peacock''. The House voted an appropriation in December but the bill stalled in the US Senate in February 1829. Then, under President Andrew Jackson, Congress passed legislation in 1836 approving the exploration mission. Again, the effort stalled under Secretary of the Navy Mahlon Dickerson until President Van Buren assumed office and pushed the effort forward.

Originally, the expedition was under the command Commodore Jones, but he resigned in November 1837, frustrated with all of the procrastination. Secretary of War Joel Roberts Poinsett, in April 1838, then assigned command to Wilkes, after more senior officers refused the command. Wilkes had a reputation for hydrography, geodesy, and magnetism. Additionally, Wilkes had received mathematics training from Nathaniel Bowditch, triangulation methods from Ferdinand Hassler, and geomagnetism from James Renwick.

Personnel included naturalists, botanists, a mineralogist, a taxidermist, and a philologist. They were carried aboard the sloops-of-war (780 tons), and (650 tons), the brig (230 tons), the full-rigged ship ''Relief'', which served as a store-ship, and two schooners, ''Sea Gull'' (110 tons) and (96 tons), which served as tenders.

On the afternoon of August 18, 1838, the vessels weighed anchor and set to sea under full sail. By 0730 the next morning, they had passed the lightship off Willoughby Spit and discharged the pilot. The fleet then headed to Madeira, taking advantage of the prevailing winds.

Coincidentally, Commodore George C. Read in command of the East India Squadron aboard the flagship frigate USS ''Columbia'', together with the frigate USS ''John Adams'', were at the time in the process of circumnavigating the globe when the ships paused for the second Sumatran punitive expedition, which required no detour.

Ships and personnel

The expedition consisted of nearly 350 men, many of whom were not assigned to any specific vessel. Others served on more than one vessel.

Ships

* – sloop-of-war, 780 tons, 18 guns, flagship
* – sloop-of-war, 650 tons, 22 guns
* – full-rigged ship, 468 tons, 7 guns
* – brig, 230 tons, 10 guns
* – schooner, 110 tons, 2 guns
* – schooner, 96 tons, 2 guns
* – brig, 250 tons, 2 guns

Command

* Charles Wilkes – Expedition commander and commandant of ''Vincennes''
* Cadwalader Ringgold – Lieutenant commandant of ''Porpoise''
* Andrew K. Long – Lieutenant commandant of ''Relief''
* William L. Hudson – Commandant of ''Peacock''
* Samuel R. Knox – Commandant of ''Flying Fish''
* James W. E. Reid – Commandant of ''Sea Gull''

Naval officers

* James Alden – Lieutenant
* Daniel Ammen - Passed midshipman
* Thomas A. Budd – Lieutenant and cartographer
* Simon F. Blunt – Passed midshipman
* Augustus Case – Lieutenant
* George Colvocoresses – Midshipman
* Edwin De Haven – Acting Master
* Henry Eld – Midshipman
* George F. Emmons – Lieutenant
* Charles Guillou – Assistant surgeon
* William L. Maury – Lieutenant
* William Reynolds – Passed midshipman
* Richard R. Waldron – Purser
* Thomas W. Waldron – Captain's clerk

Scientific corps

* Alfred T. Agate – Artist
* James Drayton – Artist
* William Brackenridge – Assistant botanist
* Joseph P. Couthouy – Conchologist
* James D. Dana – Mineralogist and geologist
* Horatio Hale – Philologist
* Titian Peale – Naturalist
* Charles Pickering – Naturalist
* William Rich – Botanist

History

Expedition

First part

Wilkes was to search for vigias, or shoals, as reported by John Purdy, but failed to corroborate those claims for the locations given. The squadron arrived in the Madeira Islands on September 16, 1838, and Porto Praya for an observatory and naval yard for repair and refitting.

The Squadron did not leave Rio de Janeiro until January 6, 1839, arriving at the mouth of the Río Negro on January 25. On February 19, the squadron joined the ''Relief'', ''Flying Fish'', and ''Sea Gull'' in Orange Harbor, Hoste Island, after passing through Le Maire Strait. While there, the expedition came in contact with the Fuegians. Wilkes sent an expedition south in an attempt to exceed Captain Cook's farthest point south, 71°10'.

The ''Flying Fish'' reached 70° on March 22, in the area about north of Thurston Island, and what is now called Cape Flying Fish, and the Walker Mountains. The squadron joined the ''Peacock'' in Valparaiso on May 10, but the ''Sea Gull'' was reported missing. On June 6, the squadron arrived at San Lorenzo, off Callao for repair and provisioning, while Wilkes dispatched the ''Relief'' homewards on June 21. Leaving South America on July 12, the expedition reached Reao of the Tuamotu Group on August 13, and Tahiti on September 11. They departed Tahiti on October 10.

The expedition then visited Samoa and New South Wales, Australia. In December 1839, the expedition sailed from Sydney into the Antarctic Ocean and reported the discovery of the Antarctic continent on January 16, 1840, when Henry Eld and William Reynolds aboard the ''Peacock'' sighted Eld Peak and Reynolds Peak along the George V Coast. On the January 19, Reynolds spotted Cape Hudson. On January 25, the ''Vincennes'' sighted the mountains behind the Cook Ice Shelf, similar peaks at Piner Bay on January 30, and had covered of coastline by February 12, from 140° 30' E. to 112° 16' 12"E., when Wilkes acknowledged they had "discovered the Antarctic Continent." Named Wilkes Land, it includes Claire Land, Banzare Land, Sabrina Land, Budd Land, and Knox Land. They charted of Antarctic coastline to a westward goal of 105° E., the edge of Queen Mary Land, before departing to the north again on February 21.

The ''Porpoise'' came across the French expedition of Jules Dumont d'Urville on January 30. However, due to a misunderstanding of each other's intentions, the Porpoise and Astrolabe were unable to communicate. In February 1840, some of the expedition were present at the initial signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand. Some of the squadron then proceeded back to Sydney for repairs, while the rest visited the Bay of Islands, before arriving in Tonga in April. At Nuku'alofa they met King Josiah (Aleamotu'a), and the George (Taufa'ahau), chief of Ha'apai, before proceeding onwards to Fiji on May 4. The ''Porpoise'' surveyed the Low Archipelago, while the ''Vincennes'' and ''Peacock'' proceeded onwards to Ovalau, where they signed a commercial treaty with Tanoa Visawaqa in Levuka. Edward Belcher's visited Ovalau at the same time. Hudson was able to capture Vendovi, after holding his brothers Cocanauto, Qaraniqio, and Tui Dreketi (Roko Tui Dreketi or King of Rewa Province) hostage. Vendovi was deemed responsible for the attack against US sailors on Ono Island in 1836. Vendovi was taken back to the US, but died shortly after his arrival in New York. His skull was then added to the expedition collections and put on display in the Patent Office building in Washington, D.C.

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 ground. The Americans landed sixty sailors to attack the hostile natives. Close to eighty Fijians were killed in the resulting American reprisal and two villages were burned to the ground.

Return route

On August 9, after three months of surveying, the squadron met off Macuata. The ''Vincennes'' and ''Peacock'' proceeded onwards to the Sandwich Islands, with the ''Flying Fish'' and ''Porpoise'' to meet them in Oahu by October. Along the way, Wilkes named the Phoenix Group and made a stop at the Palmyra Atoll, making their group the first scientific expedition in history to visit Palmyra. While in Hawaii, the officers were welcomed by Governor Kekuanaoa, King Kamehameha III, his aide William Richards, and the journalist James Jackson Jarves. The expedition surveyed Kauai, Oahu, Hawaii, and the peak of Mauna Loa. The ''Porpoise'' was dispatched in November to survey several of the Tuamotus, including Aratika, Kauehi, Raraka, and Katiu, before proceeding onwards to Penrhyn and returning to Oahu on 24 March.

On April 5, 1841, the squadron departed Honolulu, the ''Porpoise'' and ''Vincennes'' for the Pacific Northwest, the ''Peacock'' and ''Flying Fish'' to resurvey Samoa, before rejoining the squadron. Along the way, the ''Peacock'' and ''Flying Fish'' surveyed Jarvis Island, Enderbury Island, the Tokelau Islands, and Fakaofo. The ''Peacock'' followed this with surveys of the Tuvalu islands of Nukufetau, Vaitupu, and Nanumanga in March, followed by Tabiteuea in April. Also in April, the ''Peacock'' surveyed the Gilbert Islands of Nonouti, Aranuka, Maiana, Abemama, Kuria, Tarawa

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