The Wilkes Expedition and the Discovery of Antarctica

Overview

In 1838 Charles Wilkes (1798-1877), a United States Naval officer, set sail on an exploratory mission to the far reaches of the southern seas with six small and barely adequate ships, 82 officers, 342 sailors, and nine scientists and artists. This expedition, the United States Exploring Expedition, was charged with exploring waters in the extreme south to learn more about weather, sea conditions, uncharted lands, and other information of scientific and economic interest. The Wilkes expedition succeeded in discovering the continent of Antarctica, mapping large sections of Australia, and gathering a wealth of scientific and commercial information.

Background

Although the existence of a southern continent had been proposed by the ancient Greeks, who felt a large southern landmass must exist to balance the land north of the equator, no confirmed sightings of the purported continent had been made. Captain James Cook (1728-1779) and the crew of the Endeavour had approached the continent in 1773, but were turned back by heavy ice and never sighted the continent. Later, in 1821, American sealer Nathaniel Palmer discovered the Antarctic Peninsula (also called the Palmer Peninsula). Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellinghausen (1778-1852) discovered some small islands near Antarctica and an American named Davis actually landed on the continent. None of these men, however, realized they had discovered the southern continent and, because of this, none are credited with the discovery. In fact, by 1840 many were beginning to suspect that there was no southern continent at all.

During the first part of the nineteenth century, American whaling and sealing ships were actively sailing every ocean, gradually depleting stocks of these animals near the United States and, eventually, around South America, too. As the ships pushed further south they began to encounter strong weather, uncharted regions, and had trouble locating new hunting grounds. Commercial sailors were loath to share information that might take away their competitive advantage, so a comprehensive understanding of the far southern oceans did not exist.

In 1836 Congress passed a bill authorizing the president to "send out a surveying and exploring expedition to the Pacific Ocean and the South Seas." The expedition's goals would be to fill in the gaps in knowledge about the seas, weather, and lands in the extreme south to give American sailors an advantage over those of other nations when sailing those seas. The goals of the expedition were stated thusly:

"Although the primary object of the expedition is the promotion of the great interests of commerce and navigation, yet you will take all occasions not incompatible with the great purposes of your undertaking to extend the bounds of science and promote the acquisition of knowledge."

Unbeknownst to Congress, Great Britain and France had reached similar decisions and were sending squadrons of ships south at the same time.

After offering the leadership position to a number of well-qualified candidates (all of whom turned the opportunity down for one reason or another), Wilkes was asked to lead the Expedition of Exploration, in spite of his relative lack of sea experience. Wilkes accepted and, on August 18, 1838, the expedition set sail. They were to return four years later, having accomplished their goals in the Southern Ocean as well as mapping parts of the Australian coast, a number of South Pacific islands, and large parts of the West Coast of North America.

Impact

The Wilkes expedition was somewhat of a nautical coup for the United States, as it was the first major voyage of exploration undertaken by the young nation. (Though the 1804-06 expedition of Lewis and Clark was, granted, a major expedition, it was entirely land-based and mostly within the confines of the United States.) There were several ways in which Wilkes's expedition had an impact on society:

1. Wilkes returned with a great deal of scientific knowledge, much of which could be used to enhance the position of American sailing ships (especially whalers and sealers) when operating in extreme southern waters. Several American scientists—among them, James Dwight Dana(1813-1895), a geologist and biologist who rose to prominence because of his work on this expedition—got their start with Wilkes.

2. Wilkes, in a race with the French and British to confirm or deny the existence of a southern continent, was able to claim for the United States the distinction of being the first person to sight the last continent discovered on Earth. Other discoveries in geography included mapping large sections of Australia for the first time and helping to chart many of the islands of the South Pacific.

3. The information returned by Wilkes on weather, sea conditions, and commercial animals helped American sailors gain a foothold in the lucrative whaling and sealing grounds of the Southern Ocean.

4. As the last continent discovered, this expedition can be said to have completed the initial phases of mankind's exploration of the Earth. With all of the major land masses now discovered, attention shifted towards exploring the interiors of the lesser known continents as well as well-publicized races to the north and south poles of later years.

Although Wilkes's primary charge was to return with information that could give the United States an advantage over other nations in hunting whales and seals, the longest lasting benefit of this expedition was the scientific information brought back to the United States. At least three scientists accompanying Wilkes achieved international renown for their work and the specimens returned to the United States provided many years of fruitful work for many more researchers. In fact, at one point Charles Darwin (1809-1882), when writing a monograph on barnacles, requested the loan of "some of the species (of barnacles) collected during your great expedition." These specimens were later donated to become the foundation of the National Museum of Natural History, a part of the Smithsonian Institution complex.

During his expedition, Wilkes became aware that the Frenchman Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d'Urville (1790-1842) and Englishman James Ross (1800-1862) were both seeking the southern continent at the same time. All were seemingly aware of Palmer's and Bellinghausen's sightings and all were attempting to claim for their nations the honor of discovering the last continent on Earth. In one of the incidents that led to scandal, Wilkes initially logged that he first sighted the Antarctic continent on January 19, 1840. Later, realizing that Dumont d'Urville had logged the same date, Wilkes changed his logs to indicate the sighting took place on January 16th. In fact, Wilkes ended up charting more of the Antarctic continent than either other captain and was the first to be able to prove he had sighted a continent rather than a long archipelago encased in ice. This incident generated such controversy, though, that as late as 1910 there was considerable acrimony between the English, French, and Americans regarding who should be properly credited with this discovery and who it was appropriate to name various features for. Although generally a debate among the upper classes and intelligentsia, the debate was followed sporadically by larger segments of the population when various arguments were reported in the popular media.

While most of the plaudits received by this expedition are for its scientific discoveries, Wilkes's work did benefit whalers, fishermen, and sealers greatly. Where, previously, many ships were lost or damaged by storms, uncharted islands, or uncharted reefs, several safe transit lanes were identified. However, to some extent, the commercial impact of Wilkes's work was shorter-lived than the scientific impact because, once discovered, the stocks of whales and seals were quickly depleted. This made the long trip south less profitable, leading fewer and fewer whalers in that direction. In addition, many individual captains had fairly detailed knowledge about parts of the Southern Ocean, but were unwilling to share it for fear of losing their competitive advantage. So, in a sense, Wilkes managed to recreate, consolidate, and make public knowledge that already existed in small, scattered bits and pieces.

The final major impact of this expedition was that it signaled an end to the age of discovery, if that age is defined as mankind's learning of the large details of our world. As the last continent to be discovered, attention turned increasingly towards exploring continental interiors and exploiting the wealth found there. To be sure, the mapping of the Earth was far from complete, but its broad outlines were now known.

Wilkes returned to the United States in 1842, having spent four years on his expedition. The expedition covered a total of 87,000 miles (139,000 kilometers) through some of the most dangerous waters on Earth, charting over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) of Australian coast, 1,500 (2,400 kilometers) miles of the Antarctic coast, and several hundred islands and reefs. He also charted and explored large sections of the North American Pacific coast, the Philippine Islands, Hawaii (then called the Sandwich Islands), and Fiji. Expedition scientists returned thousands of specimens of insects, plants, fossils, minerals, corals, seashells, and artifacts from the native peoples of the lands they visited. During this time, he lost only one ship and 15 men through disease, drowning, or injury.

P. ANDREW KARAM

Further Reading

Gurney, Alan. Below the Convergence: Voyages TowardsAntarctica, 1699-1839. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.

Headland, Robert. Chronological List of Antarctic Expeditions and Related Historical Events. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Stanton, William. The Great United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975.