Wilkes's Exploring Expedition.
Perhaps my young readers have wondered over the same fact that used to
puzzle me when a boy. While the civilized world was interested, as it
has been for hundreds of years, in trying to reach the Pole, and the
nations were constantly sending expeditions to search for it, to be
followed by others to hunt for the expeditions and then by others to
look up those that were hunting for the others and so on, all these
efforts were confined to the North Pole. Everybody seemed to have
forgotten that there is also a South Pole, which is not a mile further
from the equator than the North Pole.
Of course there was good reason for all this. There is a great deal of
land in the north, while the unbroken ocean seas stretch away from the
South Pole for hundreds and thousands of miles in every direction and
the prodigious masses and mountains of ice make it impossible to get
anywhere near it. Our daring explorers are continually edging further
north, and doubtless within a few years the Pole will be reached, but
there appears no prospect of the South Pole being seen for many a year
to come.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN CHARLES WILKES.]
Lieutenant Charles Wilkes was born in 1798 and died in 1877. He entered
the American navy at an early age and in 1838 was made commander of the
squadron which spent four years in sailing through the Pacific, along
its American coasts and in the Antarctic regions.
Before giving an account of this memorable scientific expedition, let me
add a little more information concerning this distinguished naval
officer, since this is the only chapter which contains any reference to
him. He was made a captain in 1855. In the month of November, 1861,
while in command of the steamer _San Jacinto_, he stopped the British
ship _Trent_ and forcibly took off the two Confederate commissioners,
Mason and Slidell, who were on their way respectively to England and
France to secure their aid for the Southern Confederacy.
Captain Wilkes was highly applauded for his act by his countrymen, but
England was very indignant. It was an illegal proceeding on his part,
since the deck of a ship is the same as the soil of the country whose
flag she flies. Our Government was compelled to disavow his action and
restore the commissioners to English custody.
In the War for the Union Captain Wilkes commanded the James River
squadron, was made commodore in 1862 and was retired in 1864 and made
rear-admiral on the retired list.
[Illustration: THE "SAN JACINTO" STOPPING THE "TRENT."]
The scientific expedition of which Lieutenant Wilkes was given command
was intended, to quote the words of Congress, "for the purpose of
exploring and surveying the southern ocean, as well to determine the
existence of all doubtful islands and shoals as to discover and
accurately fix the position of those which lie in or near the track of
our vessels in that quarter and may have escaped the observation of
scientific navigators."
Lieutenant Wilkes sailed from Hampton Roads on the 19th of August, 1838,
his flagship being the 18-gun sloop-of-war _Vincennes_, the 18-gun
sloop-of-war _Peacock_, the 12-gun brig-of-war _Porpoise_, the storeship
_Relief_, the tender _Sea Gull_ and the tender _Flying Fish_. Since one
of the main objects was scientific research, the expedition was provided
with a philologist, naturalists, conchologists, mineralogist, botanist,
draughtsmen and a horticulturist.
A halt for a week was made at the Madeira Islands, when the ships headed
southward, reaching Rio Janeiro late in November. In January, 1839, they
halted at Orange Harbor, Terra del Fuego, and made it their base of
operations. On the 25th of February Lieutenant Wilkes, in the
_Porpoise_, accompanied by the _Sea Gull_, started for the South Pole.
On the 1st of March considerable ice and snow were encountered and an
island sighted, but the men could not land because of the surf. The next
day the Ashland Islands were discovered and soon after the two vessels
reached Palmersland. The following is the account of Lieutenant Wilkes:
"It was a day of great excitement to all, for we had ice of all kinds to
encounter, from the iceberg of huge quadrangular shape, with its
stratified appearance, to the sunken and deceptive masses that were
difficult to perceive before they were under the bow. I have rarely seen
a finer sight. The sea was literally studded with these beautiful
masses, some of pure white, others showing all shades of the opal,
others emerald green and occasionally, here and there, some of deep
black. Our situation was critical, but the weather favored us for a few
hours. On clearing these dangers we kept off to the south and west under
all sail, and at 9 P.M. we counted eight large islands. Afterward the
weather became so thick with mist and fog as to render it necessary to
lie to till daylight, before which time we had a heavy snowstorm. A
strong gale now set in from the southwest; the deck of the brig was
covered with ice and snow and the weather became exceedingly damp and
cold. The men were suffering not only from want of sufficient room but
from the inadequacy of the clothing."
Naturally the further south they penetrated the greater became their
danger from the increasing fields of ice and icebergs. The _Peacock_ and
_Flying Fish_ left Orange Harbor on the same day with the _Porpoise_ and
_Sea Gull_. They were separated by a gale and the _Peacock_ was
continually beset by icebergs. Every rope and the deck, spars and
rigging were thickly coated with ice. Some days later the _Flying Fish_
was met and she reported that she had penetrated to the parallel of 70
degrees. There was imminent danger of being frozen in, and, as they were
short of provisions, they sailed northward. The _Flying Fish_ reached
Orange Harbor in April, while the _Peacock_ continued on to Valparaiso,
where the storeship _Relief_ was found. In May the other members of the
squadron arrived at the port, with the exception of the _Sea Gull_,
which was never heard of again.
The squadron now crossed the Pacific, reaching Sydney, New South Wales,
in the latter part of November. There, after consulting with his
officers, Lieutenant Wilkes decided to make another Antarctic cruise.
The _Flying Fish_ proved so unseaworthy that, after passing through a
violent storm, she was obliged to return to port and took no further
part in the enterprise.
Once more among the ice fields, the ships were menaced by danger from
every side. Some of the escapes were of the most thrilling nature. One
of the ships barely missed being crushed by hundreds of tons of ice
which fell from the top of an overhanging iceberg. The weather was
intensely cold and the snow and fine sleet which were whirled
horizontally through the air cut the face like bird shot.
The _Vincennes_ prowled along the edge of the Antarctic Continent as far
as 97 degrees east, when Lieutenant Wilkes headed northward and arrived
at Sydney in March, 1840, and found the _Peacock_ at anchor. The
_Porpoise_ reached 100 degrees east and 64 degrees 65 minutes south when
she turned her prow away from the inhospitable solitude and in March
arrived at Auckland Isle.
The following summer was spent in exploring the islands of the Southern
Archipelago. A party was engaged in a launch and cutter, when a tempest
compelled them to run into a bay of the Fiji group for shelter. While
working its way back the cutter ran upon a reef and was attacked by the
natives. The ammunition of the Americans was wet and they abandoned the
cutter and returned to the _Vincennes_.
Since these natives needed a lesson, Lieutenant Wilkes landed a force
and burned the native village. A few days later an exploring party was
again attacked while trying to trade with the natives. The men were
forced to retreat to their boats, under a hot fire, many of the savages
using muskets with no little skill. Reinforcements were landed and the
savages put to flight, but in the fighting Midshipman Underwood and
Henry Wilkes were mortally hurt and a seaman dangerously wounded.
Matters had now assumed so serious a shape that a detachment of seventy
officers and men landed at another point on the island and marched upon
the nearest village, laying waste the crops as they advanced. When the
village was reached it was found to be defended by a strong stockade,
with a trench inside, from which the crouching natives could fire
through loopholes, while outside of the stockade was a deep ditch of
water. Feeling their position impregnable, the savages flourished their
weapons and uttered tantalizing whoops at the white men. The whoops
quickly changed when the cabins within the stockade were set on fire by
a rocket. The natives fled, leaving the village to be burned to ashes.
The Americans pushed hostilities so aggressively that on the following
day the islanders sued for peace.
The squadron next sailed to the Hawaiian Islands, where several months
were spent in exploration. Then the coast of Oregon was visited and the
_Peacock_ suffered wreck at the mouth of the Columbia. Doubling the Cape
of Good Hope, the expedition reached New York in June, 1842, having been
gone nearly four years and having sailed more than 30,000 miles.
THE WAR FOR THE UNION.