Blaeuw (Amsterdam, 1642) are two side maps, one of the Arctic, the other
of the Antarctic, Circle. The latter represents not only the entire
Antarctic Circle as unbroken land, but also extends this great
supposititious continent some distance to the northward of the sixtieth
parallel and gives to it the name Magallanica Terra Australis Incognita.
This mythical Magellanic continent held its place, a subject of mystery
and interest to every geographer, until Captain James Cook, the greatest
of navigators, either ancient or modern, attempted its definition or
solution. His success here as elsewhere was marvellous, and on January
17, 1773, in the Resolution, first of all men, Cook penetrated the
ice-bound wastes of the Antarctic regions, reaching 67° 15´ S., on the
fortieth meridian E. In the following summer he completed his
circumnavigation of Southern seas in high latitudes, and penetrating the
Antarctic Circle at three widely separated points, attained, in
January, 1774, in 117° W., the extraordinary high southern latitude of
71° 10´. Cook thus "put an end to the search for a southern continent,
which had engrossed the attention of maritime nations for two
centuries."
[Illustration: Charles Wilkes.
(From a portrait by T. Sully.)]
Cook's discoveries led to erroneous conclusions as to the physical
constituents of the Antarctic regions. Although he had reached the Great
Southern Circle at four different places, and nearly attained it at the
fifth, yet no land therein, either island or continent, met his eager
gaze; instead there everywhere met his view a close pack of ice-floes of
enormous height and extent, with a few wind-caused breaks or channels.
Hence many geographers concluded that the Antarctic regions were
ice-covered seas, either totally or in greater part. To-day, in the
light of modern science and discovery, the opinion prevails that there
is an extensive ice-clad Antarctic land, possibly rising to the dignity
of a continent; and toward this conclusion no explorations have more
directly and largely contributed than those of the American sailor and
explorer, Charles Wilkes, of the United States Navy.
The first Antarctic land ever discovered was by an American sealer,
Captain Palmer, from Connecticut. Bellingshausen, of the Russian
Imperial Navy, in his voyage of 1821, that resulted in the discovery of
the islands of Peter and Alexander, on the sixty-ninth parallel, fell in
with the Yankee skipper immediately after he had discovered the land, to
which Bellingshausen justly attached Palmer's name. Palmer's Land,
extended into the Antarctic Circle by Biscoe's discoveries of 1832,
merges into Graham Land of the latter explorer.
Probably incited by these discoveries, France sent forth an Antarctic
expedition, under Dumont d'Irville, in 1837, and England, under Sir
James Clark Ross, the discoverer of the northern magnetic pole, in 1839.
Simultaneously with these expeditions was organized one by the United
States, for which the exceedingly liberal appropriation of $300,000 was
made.
This last expedition was authorized by the act of Congress of May 18,
1836, "for the purpose of exploring and surveying in the Great Southern
Ocean in the important interests of our commerce embarked in the whale
fisheries and other adventures in that ocean, as well as to determine
the existence of all doubtful islands and shoals, and to discover and
accurately fix the position of those which lie in or near the track
pursued by our merchant vessels in that quarter." This expedition, the
first of its character undertaken by the United States, grew out of the
vast capital employed in whaling and trade.
The expedition was first organized under Commodore Thomas Ap Catesby
Jones, United State Navy, but finally the President of the United States
appointed Lieutenant Charles Wilkes to command the squadron, and he was
formally assigned to this duty under instructions of Secretary Paulding,
dated August 11, 1838.
Charles Wilkes was born in New York City, April 3, 1798, and entering
the United States Navy as a midshipman at the age of nineteen was
promoted to be lieutenant in 1826. He had long served in the department
of charts and instruments and was especially qualified for the proposed
astronomical and surveying work connected with the expedition.
An anomalous feature of the expedition was the acceptance of appointment
as second in command by Lieutenant William L. Hudson, whose naval rank
was above that of Wilkes's. The squadron, then consisting of the sloops
of war Vincennes and Peacock, the store-ship Relief, the brig Porpoise,
and tenders Sea Gull and Flying Fish, left Norfolk, Va., August 13,
1838. Associated with Wilkes were a number of lieutenants destined to
later distinguish themselves in their country's service, among whom may
be mentioned T. P. Craven, James Alden, S. P. Lee, G. F. Emmons, and A.
L. Case, all of whom afterward rose to be rear admirals, and H. J.
Harstene, later associated with the relief of Kane. Under its
instructions the expedition was to visit Rio de Janeiro, Cape Frio, the
Rio Negro, Terra del Fuego, the Antarctic Ocean southward of Powell's
group to Cook's farthest, Valparaiso, the Navigators' Group, the Feejee
Islands, the Antarctic regions south of Van Dieman's Land, whence it
would return home by way of the Sandwich Islands, San Francisco,
Singapore, and the Cape of Good Hope. No ship had steam-power, nor was
any vessel of the squadron fitted with appliances for protection in ice
navigation; indeed, the squadron was a makeshift, ill-suited for so long
and dangerous a voyage. Eventually the Sea Gull was lost in a gale off
the coast of Chili, the Flying Fish proved of little use, and the
extreme slowness of the Relief delayed the voyage.
Wilkes sailed for the Antarctic regions from Orange Bay, near Cape Horn,
on February 24, 1839, but owing to the lateness of the summer
accomplished little, and spent thirty-six days in attempting to visit
Palmer's Land, which was only sighted.
A second attempt at Antarctic exploration was made by Wilkes from
Sidney, N. S. W., which was left December 21, 1839. A compact barrier of
field ice, with frequent large bergs, was fallen in with on January 11,
1840, and from this time on the ships were often in imminent danger
owing to continuous ice, impenetrable fog, bad weather, and occasional
embayment of the vessels in the ice-pack. It is scarcely needful to
enter into the details of Wilkes's perilous voyage from longitude 95° E.
to 155° E. and in latitudes ranging from the Antarctic Circle to the
neighborhood of the seventieth parallel. It may be mentioned, however,
that the Peacock narrowly escaped entire destruction by collision with a
heavy iceberg, which seriously injured the ship. Fortunately she cleared
the berg in time to escape crushing by the falling of detached ice
masses from the overhanging floe berg. Heavy gales and the bad sanitary
condition of the ship caused the medical officers of the Vincennes to
specially report to Wilkes that such continued exposure would so weaken
the crew by sickness as to hazard the ship and the lives of all on
board. Wilkes, however, had sighted the long-looked-for Antarctic land,
and, disregarding the warning, followed the coast-line eastward, keeping
his squadron as near it as the conditions would permit. The land was a
series of lofty mountain ranges, often snow-capped, frequently broken by
indentations, and, worst of all, shut out from immediate approach by an
almost continuous ice-barrier, which in its extent, height, and
appearance struck every beholder with admiration not unmixed with
apprehension. This barrier rose perpendicularly from the deep sea to a
height varying from one hundred to two hundred feet above the level of
the water, which gave no bottom in soundings ranging from one hundred
and fifty to two hundred and fifty fathoms. Despite this great depth of
water, the perpendicular icy barrier was evidently grounded, thus
indicating ice of a thickness of about one thousand feet.
[Illustration: The Ice-Barrier.
(From a sketch by Captain Wilkes.)]
Regarding the land discovered the first reliable observations were those
of January 16th, when land was seen by Lieutenant Ringgold, of the
Porpoise, and by Midshipmen Eld and Reynolds, of the Peacock, their
statement running as follows: "The mountains could be distinctly seen
stretching over the ice to the southwest." On the 19th land was again
visible from the Vincennes, Alden reporting it twice to Wilkes, and on
the same day high land was seen by all the crew of the Peacock. The
ships were then in longitude 154° E., 66° 20´ S., practically on the
Antarctic Circle. On February 2d high bold land bordered by the
ice-barrier was visible to the Vincennes and Porpoise in longitude 137°
E., latitude 66° 12´ S. Five days later the westerly trend of the land
as previously seen was confirmed by a well-defined outline of high land
rising above the perpendicular ice-barrier, the Vincennes being in
longitude 132° E., latitude 66° 8´ S. On February 9th, in longitude 123°
E., latitude 65° 27´ S., the land is spoken of as being indistinct. At 8
A.M. of the 12th land was reported again, in longitude 112° E., latitude
64° 57´ S., the land being in about 65° 20´ S. and trending nearly east
and west.
Wilkes says of the land and of his efforts to reach it: "The solid
barrier prevented our further progress. Land was now distinctly seen
from eighteen to twenty miles distant, bearing from S.S.E. to S.W., a
lofty mountain range covered with snow, though showing many ridges and
indentations." Two days later he writes: "The 14th was remarkably clear
and the land very distinct. By measurement we made the extent of coast
of the Antarctic continent then in sight seventy-five miles and by
approximate measurement three thousand feet high."
In longitude 97° E., Wilkes found the ice trending to the northward,
well out of the Antarctic Circle, and after following it near to where
Cook was stopped in February, 1773, Wilkes took his course for Sydney,
where he learned that an English sealer, Captain Balleny, had discovered
land in longitude 165° E., south of and near the point where Wilkes
found the ice-barrier, and had attained a latitude of 69° S. in
longitude 172° E. Here Wilkes, hearing of the prospective arrival of Sir
James Clark Ross, forwarded for his benefit a tracing of the chart
prepared as the American squadron had passed along the barrier,
supplemented by the discoveries of Balleny. Ross publishes a copy of
this chart in his "Voyage to the Southern Seas," together with Wilkes's
letter, giving information not only as to discoveries, but also as to
winds, currents, and the probable position of the magnetic pole.
[Illustration: The Vincennes in a Storm.
(From a sketch by Captain Wilkes)]
Most unfortunately, on the chart transmitted to Ross by Wilkes, he
entered, without distinguishing marks, land between longitudes 160° E.
and 165° E., near the sixty-sixth parallel, which should have been
marked with the legend of "probable land," it being most probably the
supposed land of Lieutenant Ringgold, of the Vincennes, who on January
13, 1840, in longitude, 163° E., latitude 65° 8´ S., to use Ringgold's
own words, "thought he could discern to the southeast something like
distant mountains." As a matter of fact, Ross found no bottom at six
hundred fathoms over this charted land, and naturally enough pointed out
that he had sailed over a clear ocean where Wilkes had laid down land.
This lack of caution on the part of Wilkes led to an acrimonious
controversy which had no good end, but tended to discredit among the
ill-informed the discoveries of land actually made by the expedition.
Ross, evidently somewhat nettled, had the questionable taste to omit
from his general South Polar Chart all of Wilkes's discoveries. This
course, it is hardly necessary to say, has not commended itself to the
best geographers, for in the standard atlas of Stieler, issued by the
famous publishing house of Justus Purthes, the discoveries claimed by
Wilkes are entered, with the legend, "Wilkes Land," extending from
longitude 95° E. to 160° E. It is gratifying, moreover, to note as an
evidence of the impartial justice of the Royal Geographical Society,
that it acknowledged the accuracy and extent of the discoveries of
Wilkes and of the value of his detailed narrative of the expedition, and
therefor that society awarded to him its founders' medal.
Ross, it may be added, reached the highest known latitude in the
Antarctic Circle, 78° 11´ S., where he discovered Victoria Land, tracing
its coast from 70° to 79° S. latitude, along the meridian of 161° W.,
which proved to be a bold, mountainous country, practically inaccessible
and having within its limits an active volcano about twelve thousand
feet high--Mount Erebus.
On the subject of an Antarctic continent Ross says: "There do not appear
to me sufficient grounds to justify the assertion that the various
patches of land recently discovered by the American, French, and English
navigators on the verge of the Antarctic Circle unite to form a great
southern continent."
The investigations and deductions of a great scientist, the late W. B.
Carpenter, give the latest word on this subject. Carpenter says: "The
Antarctic ice-barrier is to be regarded as the margin of a polar ice-cap
whose thickness at its edge is probably about two thousand feet....
These vast masses have originally formed part of a great ice-sheet
formed by the cumulative pressure of successive snow-falls over a land
area," etc. Elsewhere he adds: "That the circumpolar area is chiefly
land and not water seems to be farther indicated," etc. The periphery of
the ice-cap is estimated to be about ten thousand miles.
Thus the ordinary man may safely believe in the existence of an
Antarctic continent whose outer margins were first skirted and
recognized as part of a great land by Charles Wilkes, of the United
States Navy.
After quitting the Southern seas, Wilkes voyaged through the Pacific
Ocean, in accordance with his original orders. In the Feejee group,
however, his experiences were most unfortunate. The pillaging of a
grounded cutter by the natives resulted in Wilkes destroying one of
their villages and capturing several of their chiefs, causing
ill-feeling which a few days later culminated in an attack on a boat's
crew, whereby Lieutenant Underwood and Midshipman Henry were killed by
the natives and others of the party were severely wounded. An attack of
a retaliatory character was made by Wilkes, who destroyed two native
towns, laid waste plantations, killed about sixty of the savages and
wounded many others.
[Illustration: View of the Antarctic Continent.
(From a sketch by Captain Wilkes.)]
At every port Wilkes and his staff of officers and scientific assistants
were most assiduous in making surveys and in acquiring knowledge of the
countries and their inhabitants. Even the most prolonged voyage must
end, and with pleasure officers and men saw again the shores of their
country, where Wilkes landed, at New York, June 10, 1842, after four
years of absence.
As might be expected, there were officers of the squadron who felt that
their merits had not been properly recognized by Lieutenant Wilkes
during this voyage of four years, and in consequence charges of a
voluminous character and under a large number of heads were brought
against him. The court which considered them acquitted Wilkes except as
regards the punishment of several of his men, which in some cases
appeared to have been more summary and severe than the regulations of
the navy justified, for which action a reprimand was administered.
The collections made by the expedition, and the scientific volumes
published in connection therewith, were very important additions to the
scientific knowledge of the world. Professor Henry, in 1871, says: "The
basis of the National Museum is a collection of the specimens of the
United States Exploring Expedition under Captain, now Admiral,
Wilkes.... The collections made by the naval expeditions--1838 to
1842--are supposed greatly to exceed those of any other similar
character fitted out by any government; no published series of results
compare in magnitude with that issued under the direction of the joint
Library Committees of Congress." Sixteen quarto volumes were issued,
five of narrative and eleven of a scientific character, while other
parts were unfortunately destroyed by fire.
The beginning of the great civil war again brought Wilkes into striking
and international prominence. Sent to the coast of Africa for the United
States steamship San Jacinto, Wilkes promptly brought her into West
Indies waters. Here he learned that the Confederate Commissioners, John
Slidell and J. M. Mason, had run the blockade and landed in Cuba, and he
decided, without consultation or orders, to capture them. The San
Jacinto was then cruising for the Confederate privateer, the Sumter, but
visited frequently the Cuban ports. Wilkes apparently accepted the
prevailing opinion that Mason and Slidell were safe from interference,
but, keeping his views to himself, he was frequently seen by one of his
subordinates to be deeply engaged in perusing international law books,
doubtless occupied in seeking for precedents in justification of his
contemplated action.
On November 1, 1861, Lieutenant J. A. Greer, navigating officer, brought
word that Mason and Slidell were booked for England by the steamer
Trent, which was to leave Havana on the 7th. On November 4th Wilkes took
station in the narrow channel of Old Bahama, through which the Trent
would naturally pass and where she could not escape being seen by the
lookout. Early on the morning of the 8th Wilkes ordered the ship cleared
for action, and when the Trent was sighted at noon, Wilkes gave his
executive officer, Lieutenant D. M. Fairfax, written instructions to
board the steamer Trent, with two armed cutters, when he was to make
prisoners of Messrs. Mason, Slidell, and their secretaries, and seize
any despatches which he might find. A round shot failed to stop the
Trent, but a shell exploding in front of her bows brought her to. After
protest, Mason and Slidell accepted the arrest, went on board the San
Jacinto, whence they were taken to New York and later confined as
prisoners at Fort Warren.
[Illustration: In an Ice-Field.]
When Wilkes landed in New York he found himself again famous, the
central figure toward which, even in that time of war, the attention of
all was turned. He was lauded by almost every citizen, praised by nearly
every journal, and was the recipient of most flattering attentions.
Complimentary banquets were given to him in New York, Boston, and
elsewhere.
The Secretary of the Navy, in a letter dated November 30, 1861, wrote:
"Especially do I congratulate you on the great public service you have
rendered in the capture of the rebel emissaries.... Your conduct in
seizing these public enemies was marked by intelligence, ability,
decision, and firmness, and has the emphatic approval of this
Department." With reference to the omission of Wilkes to capture the
Trent, the Secretary says: "The forbearance exercised in this instance
must not be permitted to constitute a precedent hereafter for
infractions of neutral obligations."
Congress was not then in session, but it met a few weeks later, when
almost the first act of the House of Representatives was to pass a joint
resolution which declared that "the thanks of Congress are due, and are
hereby tendered, to Captain Wilkes, of the United States Navy, for his
brave, adroit, and patriotic conduct in the arrest and detention of the
traitors, James M. Mason and John Slidell."
The hostile attitude of Great Britain, which country to many Americans
appeared quite ready on slight pretence to acknowledge the Southern
Confederacy, gave great anxiety to the administration. The astute
Lincoln and the diplomatic Seward, supported by the patriotic Sumner in
the Senate, and other conservative men in the House of Representatives,
after due correspondence acceded to the demands of Great Britain that
the prisoners should be released. Seward, however, justified Wilkes's
action in the main as legal, but said that he erred in releasing the
Trent; and by constituting himself as a court, and in not bringing the
steamer before an admiralty court as guilty of carrying articles
contraband of war, had acted irregularly. The United States declined to
apologize, as no offence to Great Britain was intended, and forbore from
claiming against England the right of search which that nation had so
persistently exercised.
The Naval Committee of the Senate reported without amendment the
resolution of thanks to Wilkes, but deemed it best to postpone it
indefinitely. The ordinary citizen did not share the conservative, and
it may be said the very wise, course of the administration, and the
sentiment throughout the country was very generally one of national
pride that under doubtful circumstances an American sailor had dared
rather too much than too little for the dignity and safety of his
country. Wilkes, himself, when told that possibly this act would cause
him to lose his commission, said that he deemed his seizure of the
commissioners simply a patriotic duty, and if needs be was willing to be
sacrificed for his country. He continued to perform efficient service
during the war, despite his advancing years. In 1862, while in command
of the Potomac flotilla, he shelled and destroyed City Point, and in
command of a special squadron to maintain the blockade, captured and
destroyed many blockade-runners.
With the closing of the war, and his retirement from active service,
Wilkes returned to the scientific pursuits which had always engrossed
his mind, and full of years and honor, died at Washington, February 8,
1877.
Of his early scientific labors it may be said that they had contributed
in no small degree to the establishment of a national institution of
international repute, the Naval Observatory.
For his important additions to the knowledge of the world, and
especially for his ever-zealous war services, the memory and life of
Charles Wilkes will ever abide fresh and honored in the hearts of his
countrymen.
VIII.
JOHN CHARLES FRÉMONT,
THE PATHFINDER.
The discovery and exploration of the trans-Mississippi region had many
phases, the outcome of different conditions and varying individual
efforts to determine the extent, possibilities, and resources of the
undeveloped half of the American continent. The seamanship of Gray, the
enthusiasm of Lewis, the courage of Clarke, the assiduity of Pike, the
enterprise of Ashley, Wyeth, Sublette, Bonneville, and other trappers
and traders, had done much to make known to the pioneer and settler the
advantages and promise of the great West, and had roughly delineated the
routes of travel best suited for the emigrant in his westward march.
In time many urged that the government of the United States, so long
shamefully negligent of its magnificent acquisitions by purchase,
discovery, and settlement, should enter in and possess its own. This,
however, necessitated, first, a systematic examination of the physical
features of the West to such an extent as to render possible its general
and authoritative description; second, the granting of lands or
homesteads to such of its daring citizens as might be willing to
venture their lives as settlers in these remote regions.
Among public men who urged most strongly such action was one of the most
distinguished of our Western statesmen, Thomas H. Benton, first Senator
from the new and growing State of Missouri. He persistently advocated
the settlement of the lower Columbia by Americans, the enforcement of
the title of the United States to the Pacific Coast region from
California northward to the forty-ninth parallel, and in 1825 he
presented in the Senate a bill authorizing the use of the army and navy
to protect American interests in Oregon.
In season and out of season Benton opposed the joint occupation of
Oregon by England and America, unfailingly supporting every measure
which promised to fill its fertile valleys with American settlers. So
dominant was this idea in Benton's career that artistic skill has
fittingly shaped his statue in St. Louis with its bronze hand pointing
_west_, with his prophetic words carved on the pedestal, "There is the
_east_. There is India."