Observations/Antartic Expeditions/Charles Wilkes Expedition to Antarctic Peninsula

Charles Wilkes Expedition to Antarctic Peninsula

Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, Exploring Expedition 1838–1842

During the 1820s, Wilkes was a member of the prestigious Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, which counted among its members presidents Andrew Jackson (a Freemason) and John Quincy Adams (a Freemason) and many prominent men of the day (aka Freemasons), including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical, and other professions.

In 1838, although not yet a seasoned naval line officer, Wilkes was experienced in nautical survey work, and was working with civilian scientists. Upon this background, he was given command of the government exploring expedition " for the purpose of exploring and surveying the Southern Ocean, as well to determine the existence of all islands and shoals, as to discover, and accurately fix, the position of those which lay in or near the track of our vessels in that quarter, that might have escaped the observation of scientific navigators." The US Exploring Squadron was authorized by act of the Congress on May 18, 1836.

Lieutenant Charles Wilkes commanded a United States Navy exploration expedition to the Antarctic from August 18th, 1838 to June 10th, 1842, almost four years spent “exploring and surveying the Southern ocean.” In his journals Lieutenant Wilkes also mentioned being consistently east of his reckoning, sometimes over 20 miles in less than 18 hours.

Wilkes was court-martialed upon his return for the loss of one of his ships on the Columbia River bar (although it's said he lost lost two ships and 28 men), for the regular mistreatment of his subordinate officers, and for excessive punishment of his sailors. A major witness against him was ship doctor Charles Guillou. He was acquitted on all charges except illegally punishing men in his squadron. For a short time, he was attached to the Coast Survey, but from 1844 to 1861, he was chiefly engaged in preparing the report of the expedition.

The Exploring Expedition, commonly known as the Wilkes Expedition, included naturalists, botanists, a mineralogist, taxidermists, artists, and a philologist. The Expedition was carried by USS Vincennes, USS Peacock, the brig USS Porpoise, the store-ship USS Relief, and two schooners, USS Sea Gullm and USS Flying Fish.

Motivations

Circumnavigation voyages, more than any other marine activity, represented a opportunity for seafarers and nations wishing to secure an advantageous position in transoceanic circulation. The United States had already entered the dispute in 1838, when it organized the U.S. Exploring Expedition, the first expedition around the world of the U.S. Navy, commanded by Captain Charles Wilkes, whose reports were published in 1845. This global circulation also served as a sort of showcase. According to the July Monarchy, the policy to recreate the prestige of its marine force required a significant presence of French ships in the four corners of the world. Visibility of this prestige depended on the scientific and commercial results of the mission. A circumnavigation journey was, in the words of it's founder, a strategic mission for his country.

Timeline

Wilkes "story" and timeline seems slightly unbelievable, however there's much information missing. Strangely the story goes, on December 1840 through March 1841, Wilkes supposedly employed hundreds of native Hawaiian porters, and along with his men, hauled a pendulum to the summit of Mauna Loa to measure "gravity". Instead of using the existing trail, he blazed his own way, taking much longer than he anticipated. Somehow it is written that the conditions on the mountain reminded him of Antarctica - although they were in Hawaii a tropical Island on top of a Volcano.

Expedition Timeline

Date	Ship	Event	Location
May 18, 1836		Squadron was authorized by Congress	U.S.
August 25, 1836	USS Porpoise	Porpoise sailed from Boston, Massachusetts	U.S.
early December 1836	USS Relief	left Philadelphia for Norfolk, Virginia to join the ships assigned to the United States South Sea Surveying and Exploring Expedition.	U.S.
summer of 1837	USS Porpoise	conducted coastal surveying operations under the direction of Lt. Charles Wilkes	U.S.
October 1837	USS Porpoise	hunted pirates along the southern coast, and then resumed her survey work in December.	U.S.
Summer of 1838	USS Relief	delayed due to lack of money, ships, equipment, and trained personnel—and by administrative feuding. During her 19-month wait, Relief remained at Norfolk or engaged in runs along the east coast.	U.S.
August 18, 1838	USS Vincennes	Departs Hampton Roads, Virginia, commanded by Wilkes	U.S.
August 18, 1838	USS Sea Gull	Departs Norfolk, heads to the tip of South America (waiting for USS Relief)	U.S.
August 18, 1838	USS Porpoise	Departs Hampton Roads with the United States Exploring Expedition Squadron	U.S.
August 19, 1838	USS Relief	Cleared Hampton Roads and set a course for Rio de Janeiro.	U.S.
August 19, 1838	Flying Fish	sailed to visit Madeira and Rio de Janeiro
early October 1838	USS Relief	fell behind and was detached with orders to rendezvous the other five vessels in the Cape Verde Islands.
October 1838	USS Relief and the squadron	sailed for Brazil.
26 November 1838	USS Relief	the last to arrive, reached Rio	Brazil
January 6, 1839	USS Relief	the squadron sailed for the Río Negro and Cape Horn.	Brazil
January 30, 1839	USS Relief	reached Orange Harbor, on the Hardy Peninsula, Hoste Island	Brazil
early in 1839	Flying Fish	bound for Tierra del Fuego
February 1839	USS Relief	ordered north to the Straits of Magellan, via the Cockburn Channel, to survey harbors in the straits. Caught in storms, however, she was unable to penetrate the channel
	Flying Fish	headed towards the Antarctic Continent, surveys among Pacific islands and a visit to Australia
February 25, 1839	USS Sea Gull	headed south from Orange Bay on the tip of South America on to explore the area of the South Shetland Islands. They encountered snow squalls and penguins. Huge icebergs were sighted, some said to be as large as the U.S. Capitol building.	Tip of South America
	USS Sea Gull & USS Relief	Departs South America, heads to Antarctica and the Pacific Islands	Tip of South America
March 1 1839	USS Sea Gull	some islands of the South Shetlands were sighted. Seas proved too rough to make a landing.
mid-March 1839	USS Relief	was almost wrecked off Noir Island. The loss of her anchor during her battle with the sea off Noir, prohibited further attempts to enter the channel and she headed for Valparaíso.
April 15, 1839	USS Relief	entered the anchorage to make repairs and await the remainder of the squadron which by mid-May was reunited. Because of her slowness, Relief was ordered to proceed from Callao to Sydney, then sail home—carrying the sick and malcontents with her
April 17, 1839	USS Sea Gull	Ordered to proceed back to Orange Bay after stopping at Deception Island to attempt to retrieve a self-reading thermometer left there by an earlier British expedition. The crew experienced the volcanism of the island finding it frightening and unnerving to know they were standing on an active volcano	Deception Island
May 19, 1839	USS Sea Gull	The Flying Fish arrived in Valparaíso and the Sea Gull was nowhere in sight. USS Sea Gull presumed lost	Valparaíso
In June, 1839	USS Sea Gull	moved on to Callao, where the ships were refitted and replenished
mid-July, 1839	USS Relief	spent two weeks in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands) and three months after leaving Peru, put into Sydney. She discharged her remaining cargo, took on water, wood, and rock ballast and headed east.
August and September 1839	USS Vincennes	Entering into the South Pacific in, cartographers drafted charts of that area that are still used today.	South Pacific
		Stops	Madeira Islands
		Stops	Rio de Janeiro
		Visits	Tierra del Fuego
		Visits	Chile
		Visits	Peru
		Visits	Tuamotu Archipelago
		Visits	Samoa
		Visits	New South Wales
late 1839	USS Vincennes	arrived at Sydney, Australia, her base for a pioneering cruise to Antarctica	Australia
	USS Vincennes	Departs from Sydney	Australia
December 1839		Arrives in the Antarctic Ocean	Antarctic Ocean
January 25, 1840		Discovers Antarctic continent west of the Balleny Islands	Antarctic
Between mid-January and mid-February 1840	USS Vincennes	operated along the icy coast of the southernmost continent. The coast along which the ship sailed is today known as Wilkes Land.	Wilkes Land
March 28, 1840	USS Relief	she reached New York.	U.S.
April 1840	Flying Fish	the second penetration of the Antarctic, rendezvoused in New Zealand to survey Pacific islands northward toward the Hawaiians	Antarctic
1840	USS Peacock	After leaving Samoa, went to	Kiribati
	USS Peacock	Almost the entire crew killed a number of Kiribatians in the Battle of Drummond's Island.
		charting	1500 miles of Antarctic coastline
		visited	Fiji
August 1840		departed	Fiji
30 September 1840		arrived	Oahu
		visited	Hawaiian Islands
2 December 1840	USS Peacock	departed for the Pacific Northwest.
December 1840 to March 1841		measured "gravity" *	Mauna Loa
1841	USS Porpoise and USS Oregon	visited the French Frigate Shoals for the United States Exploring Expedition.
1841	USS Porpoise	visited Vostok Island and made the first recorded attempt to land on the island
17 January 1841	USS Peacock	visited	Manra of the Phoenix Islands
3 April 1841	USS Peacock	reached (a crewmember went missing)	Utiroa
14 June 1841	USS Peacock	sailed for Oahu, received extensive repairs	Hawaii
July 1841	Flying Fish	sailed with USS Peacock to resurvey some of the Samoan, Ellice, Kingsmill, and Pescadore Islands before joining the main body of the squadron on the northwest coast of America in July 1841
1841		explored	West coast of North America
1841		explored	Strait of Juan de Fuca
1841		explored	Puget Sound
1841		explored	Columbia River
1841		explored	San Francisco Bay
1841		explored	Sacramento River
July 5, 1841		He held the first American Independence Day celebration	Dupont, Washington
1841		passed through	Ellice Islands
1841		visited	Nukufetau and Vaitupu
		returned by way of	the Philippines
		returned by way of	the Sulu Archipelago
		returned by way of	Borneo
		returned by way of	Singapore
		returned by way of	Polynesia
		returned by way of	Cape of Good Hope
17 July 1841		reached the mouth of the Columbia River
July 1841	USS Peacock	Destroyed. Much of the scientific data had been taken off, Titian Peale lost most of his notes.
1 November, 1841	Flying Fish	made surveys in the Columbia River and around Vancouver, then proceeded to San Francisco, from which the squadron sailed for the south Pacific.
Mid-January 1842	Flying Fish	Arriving in the Philippines. the other ships separated to cruise the Sulu Seas, then make a planned rendezvous at Singapore in February.	Philippines
February 1842	Flying Fish	suffering from structural problems and was unfit for further service.
June 10, 1842		reached	New York
	USS Sea Gull	Sail to Hawaii
	USS Sea Gull	sail to the Columbia River to survey that area
June 9, 1842	USS Sea Gull	return to the United States via the Cape of Good Hope
June 1842	USS Vincennes	voyage around the world ended in New York
end of 1842	USS Porpoise	underwent overhaul in New York
		Expedition encircled the "globe", logged 87,000 miles

Further Reading

• The state journal - Jefferson City MO (Apr 7, 1876)

In regard to the Antarctica continent, little is known about it. It's not certain that the land seen by Wilkes and others within the Antarctic circle, is a continent. Wilkes supposed it to be a continent from the gradual shoaling of the water as he approached it, but he saw a vast deal more ice than land. He was unable to decide whether or not the shore of ice which ho explored was backed by a continuous coast of land. He caught occasional glimpses of land, but was unable to find a landing place. But the existence of a continent there is no argument against the theory, nor does the theory support cataclysmic action. On the contrary it implies a very slow change on the earth's surface. It has nothing to do with sudden deluges. It is not pretended that the inequality at the sun's action Is the only cause of the lower temperature at the arctic regions. But that it is a cause, seems certain

• The Oriental-Hydrographe and Photography; About the First Expedition Around the World With an ‘Art Available to All’ (1839-1840)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Peacock_(1813)#USS_Peacock_.281828.29
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sea_Gull_(1838)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Porpoise_(1836)