5. Maritime Frontier

• Wilkes Ex-Ex served commerce, Whigs, Navy reform, science
• student 1824-26 of Dr. Ferd. Hassler, founder of U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1802 to use science to improve navigation; appointed 1833 director of Naval Dept. of Charts & Instruments; believed in naval education reform; was 1st to build government observatory; desired to test the hollow earth theory of John Cleves Symmes; supported 1825 idea of JQA for naval exploring expedition
• U.S. Exploring Expedition 1837-42 under Lt. Charles Wilkes; 6 ships including flagship Vincennes from Norfolk to Tierra del Fuego, to Antarctic, to South Pacific and Hawaii, to Australia, back to Hawaii, to Oregon
• surveyed 280 islands, made 180 charts, mapped 800 mi. of Oregon coast, explored 1500 mi. of Antarctic; collected 60,000 specimens
• first sighted land on Antarctica 1/16/1838 (would be named Wilkes Land), three days before Dumont d'Urville (would name Adelie Land after his wife); proved 7th continent with land under ice
• Pacific chart by geologist James D. Dana who had read Nov. 1839 newspaper story of Darwin's theory of atoll evolution from volcano to coral reef around lagoon; Dana theory of ages of island chains
• Hawaii volcano Kilauea on youngest island, none on oldest Kauai
• reported growing involvement of Brit. merchants and French Catholic missionaries in Hawaii and Samoa
• Treaty with Fiji chief King Tanoa June 1840, burned 2 villages in July for death of 2 Americans
• 1st treaty with sultan of Sulu in Philippines; met with Maori in NZ
• after 6 months in the South Pacific, arrived off Col. R. 7/17/1841
• overland trip to San Francisco Bay, measured redwoods
• 5-vol report published 1844; collections to National Gallery at the Patent Office; rejected by Joseph Henry at new 1846 Smithsonian until mandated by Congress 1857 to accept flood of specimens from Army expeditions in West
• Navy began to build steamships - USS Mississippi 1842
• J. Ericcson designed 1st screw propeller warship USS Princeton
• Naval School moved to Annapolis 1845, began Naval Academy