A Rising Tide Of American Exploration

November 26, 1985|By Thomas Harney, Smithsonian News Service

All was in readiness at Hampton Roads, Va., on the afternoon of Aug. 18, 1838. Just as the wind rose and the tide began to ebb, the signal ``prepare to weigh`` was run aloft from the Vincennes, the squadron flagship. Orders were shouted, boatswains` whistles sounded, and crew members took their stations. The sails dropped, and the six vessels of the United States Exploring Expedition were off.

Their mission: to explore and chart the little-known and dangerous coasts, islands, harbors, shoals and reefs of the South Seas.

As an adventure saga, their four-year, 87,000-mile journey was a classic, making the fictional adventures of Indiana Jones pale by comparison.

``As a scientific and technological achievement, the U.S. Exploring Expedition can be revaled today only by the landing of the first man on the moon,`` Smithsonian historian Herman Viola, head of the exhibition committee, says. ``As a sea yarn, I`ve never come across one any better than this one.``

The expedition`s legacy was indeed immense. Led by the dashing Lt. Charles Wilkes, the explorers accurately charted for the first time large portions of the Pacific Ocean, including the Hawaiian and Fiji Islands. The expedition also officially established the Antarctic landmass as a continent. In all, the explorers produced 241 maps and charts, some in use as late as World War II.

Scientifically, the journey produced unprecedented collections and 19 volumes of reports and altases, which stand as a landmark in the emergence of the United States into international science. Of more than 4,000 zoological specimens, nearly 2,000 were new to science. Fifty-thousand plant specimens, including thousands of new species, were collected. Among the geologic treasures were gems from Peru and Chile and important fossils from Oregon and Australia. Some 3,000 anthropological artifacts, including priceless masks, weapons and everyday objects, comprise one of the most important and earliest American collections from the Pacific and the North American West Coast.

In 1857, the collections were turned over to the fledgling Smithsonian Institution. Today, the incomparable treasures of the U.S. Exploring Expedition are the core of the National Museum of Natural History`s renowned natural history and anthropology reference collections.

The expedition`s roots, Viola says, reach back to 1818, when an ex-Army captain declared that the Earth was hollow and could be entered through holes in the poles. Motions in Congress to launch an expedition to test the new ``theory`` soon fizzled.

Still, hopes of a government-sponsored exploring expedition into the Antarctic and South Seas region lived on for practical reasons. American fishermen and whalers needed more accurate maps of the South Seas and knowledge of its natural resources, and shipmasters and merchants sought new sources of commodities for the China trade. The young country`s leading scientists hailed the opportunity to draw attention to the Republic`s growing scientific stature, and the Navy wanted to show the flag.

After years of red tape, President Andrew Jackson, on May 14, 1836, authorized $300,000 for a United States South Seas Exploring Expedition. Thus was born the first ``National Expedition.`` In the end, the trip cost $928,183.62, a vast sum for the day.

Planning hit a snag, however, when no one in the Navy`s senior ranks would accept the command. With the original money nearly gone, the Secretary of War offered the command to a 40-year-old lieutenant, Charles Wilkes, who had relatively little sea experience but much scientific expertise in surveying, chart making and astronomy.

The volatile, self-confident Wilkes was not popular with his crew, and ``broils and contentions`` marred the voyage. Wilkes was also a strict taskmaster. Each morning, the crews lined up on deck. Peering through his eyeglass, Wilkes would bark, ``That third man, his legs are dirty, sir! Look at the lubber`s neckerchief! The next man`s head has not been combed! Stand up, you rascals!``

Yet even those who admired him least testified to his towering intellect, talents and industry. ``The number of hours (Wilkes) spent without sleep was extraordinary,`` the ship`s surgeon noted. Wilkes was, Viola says, a ``man with a mission.``

The expedition proceeded to the Madeira and Cape Verde islands, then sailed down the South American coast to Tierra del Fuego near Cape Horn. There, Wilkes` first effort to explore Antarctic waters was thwarted by gale-force winds and pea-soup fog. But Wilkes saw enough indications of land to pique his curiosity for a later attempt.

Wilkes` squadron was to reunite in Valparaiso, Chile, but one ship disappeared enroute, the victim of the treacherous Cape waters. The squadron was further reduced when Wilkes ordered the expedition`s supply ship home because it was too slow.

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