Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition

Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick

This book was an adventurous read that was difficult to put down. After reading about pirates, in the fictional tale by Michael Crichton, this book fit right in as my next reading assignment. The reader will be taken around the world with a crew that is under the command of an abusive tyrant, he will travel to various islands in the Atlantic, the Pacific, discover the continent of Antarctica, visit points of interest in North and South America, notably the survey of the Pacific Northwest, the land route from Oregon to San Francisco, survey the Fiji and Hawaiian Island groups, and perhaps most interestingly, the reader will travel with the thoughts of the officers and some of the crew that embarked on this journey. Philbrick will return the reader four years hence with the realization that there are more discoveries within reach. Sea of Glory was outstanding.

Sea of Glory was a major revitalization about a largely forgotten event in United States history. I'm glad I took the time to read it, and heartily recommend it as an instructive and entertaining adventure. Most publically educated students read about the adventures of Lewis and Clark, but most have probably never heard of the U.S. South Seas Exploring Expedition of 1838. If the leader of the Expedition, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes had had his way, the Ex. Ex., as it was known, would still have been sung internationally for the inarguably tremendous contributions it made to geography, geology, biology, and simple adventure. But Wilkes’s personality doomed the adventure into obscurity.

Philbrick writes extremely well, in a very fluid and easy voice. After reading Mayflower, this is a perfect next read from another largely missing part of U.S. history that they don’t teach in school. Large portions of the book are based upon the journal of Midshipman William Reynolds, once an ardent admirer of his commander. But by the conclusion of the expedition Reynolds and many of the officers despise him, and Philbrick superbly brings out the feelings of the officers in the book. Contrasting parts from the officer’s journals and letters to Jane, Wilkes’s wife are discussed throughout the voyage. Letters to Jane were referred to often.

Wilkes, to a large extent, made the expedition successful, and also defeated himself by preventing it from being universally celebrated. There were unprecedented logistical tasks in assembling the expedition, which at its start consisted of six ships and 346 men (including nine scientists). Senior officers had trouble putting the expedition together, and the Navy gave the task to the forty-year-old Lieutenant Wilkes. Philbrick writes, "Wilkes was a great man. But he was also vain, impulsive, and often cruel." He took offense easily, and would not be placated by offenders. He remained aloof from his officers. When things went wrong, he was quick to assume that his men had been incompetent or malevolent.” Philbrick concludes that a more self-confident and capable leader probably wouldn’t have brought the expedition greater success, although it could have brought greater on-board contentment and post-expedition fame. With his enormous flaws, Wilkes was resilient and resourceful, and the list of accomplishments by the expedition is long. They brought back forty tons of biological and anthropological specimens, many of which became the foundation for the collections displayed at the Smithsonian Institution. However, upon return of the Expedition, Wilkes was court-martialed for his many abuses, some insignificant and some fictional, such as a charge that he falsified surveying sightings. The expedition ended in political turmoil as a vitriolic and lengthy court martial ensued. Unfortunately, the court martial left the nation with a bad taste in its mouth, which probably explains why the Exploratory Expedition, despite its significant scientific and navigational successes, remains an unfortunately and poorly known chapter of U.S. history. While he got off lightly and became recognized as a naval hero in the Civil War, and even an Admiral, he is not the recognized hero that, Captain Cook or Magellan ever was. Hopefully this very readable book will start to correct this oversight.

Most surprising about the book were the tasks that were accomplished. The book describes the harrowing 87,000-mile, four-year circuit of the globe. It surveyed 1,500 miles of the Antarctic coast, 280 Pacific islands (including all of the Fiji Group), Puget Sound, 800 miles of the Oregon coast, the Columbia River from its mouth to the vicinity of Portland, and San Francisco Bay. Notable accomplishments also included scaling Mauna Loa to its summit and the first surveyed overland route from Oregon to San Francisco. During its cruise the Ex. Ex. suffered the disappearance and the shipwreck of two vessels and the deaths of a couple dozen men. Through these pages, Philbrick has provided us with an important nautical accomplishment lost to most of U.S. history.

"Sea of Glory" is a true story that ranks alongside the best of adventure books. I cannot recommend this book highly enough - a worthy addition to the library.

Note: An afterthought after reading this book… how nice would it be for our government to launch a similar expedition to find out how much has changed since the mid 1800’s. I think this would be a notable cause and a nice scientific endeavor for the United States.