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PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES EXPLORING EXPEDITION
Agassiz, Louis. Ichthyology. Vols. 21 and 22. (Never printed).
Baird, Spencer F., and Charles Girard. Herpetology. Vol. 20. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1858.
Brackenridge, William D. Botany. Cryptogamia. Filices. Vol. 16. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1854.
Cassin, John. Mammalogy and Ornithology. Vol. 8 and Atlas. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1858.
Dana, James D. Zoophytes. Vol. 7. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1846.
———. Geology. Vol. 10. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1849. With Atlas, New York: George Putnam, 1849.
———. Crustacea. Vols. 13-14. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1855.
Gould, Augustus A. Mollusca and Shells. Vol. 12. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1852, 1857.
Gray, Asa. Botany. Phanerogamia. Vol. 15. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1854.
———. Botany. Phanerogamia. Part 2. Vol. 18. (Never printed).
Hale, Horatio. Ethnography and Philology. Vol. 6. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1846.
Peale, Titian Ramsay. Mammalia and Ornithology. Repressed on publication in 1848. Rpt. with an Introduction by Kier B. Sterling. New York: Arno Press, 1978.
Pickering, Charles. Races of Man. Vol. 9. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1848.
———. Geographical Distribution of Animals and Plants. Vol. 19. (Printing never completed; parts 1 and 2 issued by the author privately in 1854 and 1876, respectively).
Sullivant, William, et al. Botany. Cryptogamia. Vol. 17. Philadelphia: 1874. (Never officially distributed).
Wilkes, Charles. Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. Vols. 1-5. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1844.
———. Meteorology. Vol. 11. Philadelphia: 1851.
———. Hydrography. Vol. 23. Philadelphia: 1858.
———. Physics. Vol. 24. (Never printed).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
From the very beginning, William Stanton, author of The Great United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842, has been as helpful and encouraging as a fellow author can be. Many thanks, Bill. Without the invaluable research assistance and unflagging enthusiasm of Michael Hill, this book would have taken several more years to write. I also want to thank the staff and trustees of the Egan Institute of Maritime Studies for their steadfast support. Anne Hoffman Cleaver, a descendant of William Reynolds, shared with me the letters and photographs in her possession. Others who generously provided me with materials, leads, and advice were Betsey Welton, Philip Lundeberg, E. Jeffrey Stann, George Peacock (a descendant of Ex. Ex. veteran George Emmons), Diana Brown, Charles Thayer, Christopher McKee, Charles Styer (a descendant of Charles Wilkes), and Harley Stanton.
One of the great pleasures of this project has been the opportunity to work with the staffs of so many noteworthy institutions. Very special thanks to everyone at the Smithsonian Institution, especially Jane Walsh, who met with me several times and gave me a personal tour of the Expedition’s ethnographic collections; Leslie Overstreet, who graciously organized a day-long visit with the staff of the institution’s Museum of Natural History; and Nancy Gwinn, who as director of the institution’s libraries made it all possible. Thanks as well to Martin Kalfatovic, G. Dale Miller, Tracy Robinson, Storrs Olson, James Mead, Warren Wagner, Stephen Cairns, and Frederick Bayer—all at the Smithsonian Institution. Thanks also to Earle Spamer at the Academy of Natural Sciences; Matthew Pavlick and Mark Katzman at the American Museum of Natural History; Edward C. Carter II and Roy Goodman at the American Philosophical Society; Stephen Jones and Taran Schindler at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University; Catharina Slautterback at the Boston Athenaeum; Linda McCurdy and Elizabeth Dunn at Duke University; Douglas Halsey, an interpreter with the National Park Service at Fort Vancouver; Ann Upton, Michael Lear, and Christopher Raab at Franklin and Marshall College; Lisa DeCesare at the Botany Libraries of the Harvard University Herbaria; Jeffrey Flannery at the Library of Congress; Cathy Williamson and Josh Graml at the Mariners’ Museum; William Fowler and Nicholas Graham at the Massachusetts Historical Society; Carolyn Kirdahy at the Museum of Science, Boston; Libby Oldham at the Nantucket Historical Association; Richard Peuser at the National Archives; Michael Crawford at the Naval Historical Center; Gale Munro at the Naval Historical Foundation; James Lewis at the New Jersey Historical Society; John Hattendorf at the Newport War College; Eleanor Gillers at the New-York Historical Society; Mary Catalfamo at the Nimitz Library at the U.S. Naval Academy; Daniel Finamore and Charity Gal-breath at the Peabody Essex Museum; John Delaney, Margaret Sherry Rich, and Anna Lee Pauls at Princeton University; Robert Summerall, James Cheevers, and Dolly Pantelides at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum; Mark Pharaoh at Urrbrare House at the University of Adelaide, home of the Mawson Antarctic Collection; Laura Clark Brown at the University of North Carolina; Michael Plunkett at the University of Virginia; and Suzanne Warner at the Yale University Art Gallery.
I have benefited greatly from the expertise and astute editorial advice of those who agreed to read and comment on my manuscript. Many thanks to William Stanton, William Fowler, Thomas Congdon, John Hattendorf, Robert Madison, Michael Crawford, Jane Walsh, Maurice Gibbs, Susan Beegel, Wes Tiffney, Mary Malloy, Stuart Frank, Paul Geraghty, Michael Hill, and Michael Jehle.
Wendy Wolf at Viking Penguin did a masterful job of editing; thanks once again, Wendy. Thanks also to her assistant, Cliff Corcoran, and to Michael Burke for his copyediting. Thanks to Hal Fessenden for his essential input on the manuscript, as well as to Francesca Belanger for the wonderful design work, to Kate Griggs for all her production help, and to master strategist Gretchen Koss. Thanks to Jeffrey Ward for the maps and to Mark Myers for the illustration of the squadron.
Very special thanks to my agent, Stuart Krichevsky, whose counsel and friendship have meant more to me than he knows. Thanks also to his assistant, Shana Cohen.
This book is dedicated to my father, Thomas Philbrick. He first steered me in the direction of the Ex. Ex., and in addition to transcribing all of William Reynolds’s journal, as well as scores of letters written by Charles Wilkes, he brought his years of teaching and writing experience to his careful reading of the manuscript. Also there every step of the way was my mother, Marianne D. Philbrick. Thanks also to my brother, Samuel Philbrick; the years we spent sailing together as teenagers were, for me, the starting point of this voyage of discovery. Finally, my deepest thanks to my wife, Melissa D. Philbrick, and to our children, Jennie and Ethan. Here’s to future voyages together.
INDEX
Adams, John (nephew)
Adams, John Quincy
Adventure Islets
Agassiz, Louis
Agate, Alfred
Alabama
Alden, James
in Antarctica
and Antarctic land sightings
and court of inquiry
and courts-martial
Fiji surveys
and Malolo massacre
in Pacific islands
Tierra del Fuego survey
Allegheny
Allshouse, Joseph
American Nautical Almanac
American Philosophical Society
Andes Mountains, experiments in
Annawan
Antarctica
icebergs in
ice sheet of
inaccessibility of
land discovered in
looming (light refraction) in
map
Ross Sea in
scientific observations in
wildlife in
Antarctic Circle:
Cook’s voyage to
Wilkes’s voyages to
Antarctic Continent:
charting of
earliest landing on
French claims for
Palmer’s Land in
Wilkes’s naming of
Wilkes’s sightings of
Antarctic Convergence
Antarctic Peninsula
anthropology
Arctic expeditions
Articles of War
Astor, John Jacob
Astoria, settlement of
Atlantic coast, survey of
Atlantic Ocean, cable across
Audubon, John J.
Aulick, John
Aurora Australis
Aurora Borealis
Australia, scientific studies in
Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition
Autobiography (Wilkes)
Bacon, Frederick
Baily, Francis
Bainbridge, Comm. William
Baird, Spencer
Balboa, Vasco Núñez de
Baldwin, A. S.
Barlow, Peter
Barrow, John
Beagle
Belcher, Edward
Bellingshausen, Adm. Fabian Gottlieb von
Bennett, James Gordon
Benton, Thomas Hart
Bertrand, Kenneth
bioluminescence
Birnie family
Blair, James
Blake, George
Bligh, William
Blunt, Simon
Bolívar, Gen. Simón
Bolton, Mary Lynch (Wilkes)
Bolton, Comm. William
Bond, William
Bougainville, Louis-Antoine de
Bouguer, Pierre
Bouguer anomalies
Bounty
Bowditch, Nathaniel
Boxer
Brackenridge, William