The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-42

 

Also known as the Great Expedition and sometimes the Wilkes Expedition.

Sorry Google has mucked up how to post pictures. 

A great expedition was proposed by John Quincy Adams to explore the South Pacific. It was ignored by Congress.

Towards the end of his first term, Andrew Jackson decided he needed something splashy to help with his re-election. Jackson decided to revive Adams proposal. Titian Ramsey Peale explained the expedition to congress.

Peale said this was to carry out James Smithson’s bequest “to fund an institution for the increase of knowledge.” It would also be a way to thwart British ambitions from California to Nootka Island, Canada. Congress appropriated the money.

The expedition was named The United States Exploration Expedition (United States Ex Ex) but is also named the Wilkes Expedition.

 Jackson was re-elected and he left the enterprise in the hands of someone unable to fathom what it would entail, Secretary of the Navy Mahlan Dickerson. 

Dickerson and the Board of Commissioners couldn’t agree on how to spend the money. For two years nothing was decided. The Board was bickering on the issue of civilian scientists on naval vessels. Would they be subject to military discipline? Will the scientific results belong to the civilians or the Navy?  Jackson lost patience and overriding everyone, appointed Thomas ap Catesby Jones as commander.

Jones took command and requisitioned five ships for the expedition. He was going to make Macedonia his flag ship. He then chose subcommanders to captain the ships. He submitted the list to the Board of Commissioners expecting routine approval.

Dickerson chose his own men, Charles Wilkes from the Depot of Charts and Instruments, and Alexander Slidell. Both had scientific strengths, and they were senior to some on Jones’s picks on the list but did not have experience commanding a ship much less a Squadron.

The Board sided with Dickerson mainly because they would keep the civilian “scientifics” under control and maybe off the ships. 

 Dickerson muddied the waters concerning Wilkes and Slidell putting things on hold. He undermined Jones by naming three lieutenants, two of them with senior service to Macedonia. 

In the spring of 1837, the Macedonian was being outfitted for sail. The largest ship, it would berth the “Scientific Corps,” and also store all the specimens and collections acquired on the voyage. The secondary mission was to protect whalers and traders. undermining the original specified mission.

The scientists squabbled amongst themselves over keeping their discoveries secret instead of combining the knowledge. The purpose of the expedition was the share the knowledge not just among scientists, but to the whole world. 

Commodore Jones was eager to get all the ships outfitted and ready to sail. 

Wilkes was in charge of the Depot of Charts and Instruments. The chronometers and other instruments needed by the ships were not delivered. Wilkes’s excuse was that they needed to be rated before being delivered.

Jones ordered Wilkes to turn over instruments, saying,

 “There is no excuse for detaining the chronometers twenty days longer at Washington to obtain Wilkes rates of those delicate instruments, for they must all be tested by the new ratings after they are returned to this place (Hampton Roads) and put on board their respective vessels, and this indispensably preliminary may require several weeks at this season.”

Wilkes wasn’t at the depot. He was preparing to sail on Porpoise ahead of the rest of the expedition. The instruments were in New York.

Wilkes was technically superior to Jones in command, but as Commodore, Jones had the power to order him not to sail. The expedition was at a stalemate.

Dickerson placed the custody of the ships under the commands of Commodore’s Hull, Biddle, and Aulick. The secretary then offered the post of commanding the expedition to numerous officers.  All turned him down. 

Now President Martin Van Buren stepped in to get things back on track. He directed Secretary of the Army, Joel Poinsett, to clean up the mess.

Poinsett met with congressman John Quincy Adams asking for his advice. The papers gave the former president’s reply, “All I want to hear about the exploring expedition is that it’s sailed.”

Poinsette met with many officers high and low trying to untie the Gordian Knot.  Poinsett asked each commander to make a list of those that would make the best commanders. None of them named themselves.

Poinsette was disillusioned and gave in to Dickerson. He named Wilkes commander, which is why Wilkes sabotaged the endeavor for years.

This decision did not set well with the Navy. Wilkes’s rank was for one ship, he was given command of a whole squadron. Many lieutenants refused to serve under him. 

Poinsette also reduced the mission to charting the seas, astronomy, and navigation. This reduced the number of scientists from thirty-two to eight.

Jones gave illness as a reason to resign his command. One man stymied the careers of the best officers in the navy.

 Setting Sail

 August 18,1838 the squadron set sail from Hampton Roads. (all ships start USS) It comprised the Vincennes—sloop-of-war, Peacock—sloop-of-war, Relief—full-rigged ship, Porpoise—brig, Sea Gull—schooner, Flying Fish—schooner.

On the first part of the journey the squadron left Hampton Roads, traveled to Madeira then to Rio de Janeiro. The Relief was late and delayed the expedition.

They sailed to Tierra del Fuego and bested Captain Cook’s farthest point South at 71⁰10’. Flying Fish reached 70^0. From there they sailed to Valparaiso. On May 10, the Sea Gull was reported missing. The squadron reached San Lorenzo off Callao for repair and provisioning. Wilkes sent Relief back to America.

June 21, they sailed into the South Pacific. They reached Reao of the Tuamotu group of islands and Tahiti on September 11. They sailed to Samoa then Sydney, Australia. From there they sailed south to Antarctica. Then north, wintering in the Sandwich Islands (Hawai’i).

Once refitted they sailed to other islands. In July 1840 Lieutenant Underwood and Wilke’s nephew Midshipman Henry were killed on Fiji’s Malolo Island. Eighty Fijians were killed, and two villages burned to the ground in reprisal.

The squadron separated for three months to widen their search and regrouped on August 9 at Macuata. They visited Palmyra Atoll, the first expedition to visit it.

They were welcomed warmly by the King Kamehameha in Honolulu. The ships were then sent to explore the other islands in the group. There were a were incidents with the natives on some of the islands with natives killed and villages burned.

The squadron then sailed north to the coast of North America. They explored into Canada. The Peacock went aground in the Columbia River and was abandoned. No loss of life. They made a map of upper California. They visited a number of forts belonging to the Hudson Bay Company and native tribes.

The squadron spent more time in Honolulu, leaving on November 17. On the way back to home they visited Wake Island, Philippines, Singapore, Polynesia, and Cape of Good Hope. Entering New York Harbor June 10, 1842.

Wilkes was not a respected commander. He overstepped his authority by flogging-around-the-fleet not allowed in the American navy, where the man was placed in a boat and lashed while going alongside each ship. He also exceeded the limit of 48 lashes.

Upon landing Wilkes filed court martial charges against most of his commanders, and they filed charges against him. He was court marshalled but found not guilty.

 

Results

 

The ships brought back a treasure trove of marine, animal, plant specimens as well as meteorological and, geological, and hydrological information. The question was what was to become of them. 

The natural place would be the Smithsonian Institute. The original reason for the expedition. The head of the institute was Joseph Henry. He thought of the institute as a place scholarly learning and study. With the mass quantity of specimens, it would turn the institute into a museum. He vigorously fought allowing them in, but Congress, knowing there wasn’t any place else to put them, ordered him to accept them.

  With the help of the expedition's scientists, 280 islands, mostly in the Pacific, were explored, and over 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) 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. Other contributions were three reports by James Dwight Dana on Zoophytes, Geology, and Crustacea. The Smithsonian Institution has digitized the five-volume narrative and the accompanying scientific volumes.

 By June 1848, many of the specimens were lost or damaged and many remained unidentified. Asa Gray was hired to work on the botanical specimens and published the first volume of the report on botany in 1854, but Wilkes was unable to secure the funding for the second volume.

While away congress had created the first National Observatory, and included meteorology, hydrology, charts and instruments in the newly constructed building in Foggy Bottom. He was angry that the post for the observatory was given to Matthew Fontaine Maury.

Maury would use the hydrology, geological and meteorology findings to help create the first comprehensive wind and weather charts published by the United States becoming the Father of Oceanography.

 

Aftermath

 

From 1844-1861 Wilkes started writing his expedition report. Twenty-eight volumes were planned, but only nineteen were published as: Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, during 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, Hydrography and Meteorology.

Wiles also published Western America, including California and Oregon, Around the World, and Theory on Winds.

 In 1861 Acting Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes commanding the San Jacinto, stopped the Royal Steamer Trent and removed Confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell. It nearly caused a war with England. President Lincoln disavowed the incident. The commissioners were released and went on to England. In 1864 Wilkes was court marshalled and removed from duty for insubordination but found not guilty. In 1866 he was commissioned a Rear Admiral. He died February 8, 1877.