What was officially called the United States South Seas Exploring Expedition set sail from Norfolk, Virginia, on August 18, 1838. It consisted of six ships under the command of Lt. Charles Wilkes, only forty years old but already claiming twenty years experience in the Navy. The Expedition had been authorized by Congress ten years earlier by a resolution “that one of our small public vessels be sent to the Pacific ocean and South sea, to examine the coasts, islands, harbors, shoals, and reefs in those seas, and to ascertain their true situation and description.”
The Naval and Civilian Crews of the Expedition
The six ships, in addition to their nearly 500 naval personnel, carried nine civilian scientists: two naturalists, two botanists, two artists, a mineralogist, a philologist, and a conchologist. These nine men, called the scientific corps, or simply the “scientifics,” went on to become major contributors in their respective fields and authored most of the 19 volumes of the Expedition’s final report. One of them, the mineralogist James Dwight Dana, authored two college textbooks, revised editions of which are still in use today.
Some Highlights of the Expedition
Over the course of its four-year voyage, the Expedition conducted significant explorations in, and amassed extensive collections of flora, fauna, and artifacts from, locations around the Pacific rim.
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