Charles Wilkes


Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer, ship's captain, and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842. His behavior led to two convictions by court-martial, one stemming from the massacre of almost 80 Fijians on Malolo in 1840. During the American Civil War he commanded during the Trent Affair, where he stopped a Royal Mail Ship and removed two British subjects, which almost led to war between the US and the UK.

Early life and career

Wilkes was born in New York City, on April 3, 1798, as the great nephew of the former Lord Mayor of London John Wilkes. His mother was Mary Seton, who died in 1802 when Charles was just three years old. As a result, Charles was raised by his aunt, Elizabeth Ann Seton, who would later convert to Roman Catholicism and become the first American-born woman canonized a saint by the Catholic Church. When Elizabeth was left widowed with five children, Charles was sent to a boarding school, and later attended Columbia College, which is the present-day Columbia University. He entered the United States Navy as a midshipman in 1818, and became a lieutenant in 1826.
In 1833, for his survey of Narragansett Bay, he was placed in charge of the Navy's Department of Charts and Instruments, out of which developed the Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office. Wilkes' interdisciplinary expedition set a physical oceanography benchmark for the office's first superintendent Matthew Fontaine Maury.

Columbian Institute

During the 1820s, Wilkes was a member of the prestigious Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, which counted among its members presidents Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions.

South Seas expedition

In 1838, although not yet a seasoned naval line officer, Wilkes was experienced in nautical survey work, and was working with civilian scientists. Upon this background, he was given command of the government exploring expedition "... 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 in or near the track of our vessels in that quarter, and have escaped the observation of scientific navigators." The US Exploring Squadron was authorized by act of the Congress on May 18, 1836.
The Exploring Expedition, commonly known as the "Wilkes Expedition," included naturalists, botanists, a mineralogist, taxidermists, artists and a philologist, and it was carried by and , the brig , the store-ship, and two schooners, and .
Departing from Hampton Roads on August 18, 1838, the expedition stopped at the Madeira Islands and Rio de Janeiro; visited Tierra del Fuego, Chile, Peru, the Tuamotu Archipelago, Samoa, and New South Wales; from Sydney sailed into the Antarctic Ocean in December 1839 and reported the discovery "of an Antarctic continent west of the Balleny Islands" of which it sighted the coast on January 25, 1840. After charting 1500 miles of Antarctic coastline, the expedition visited Fiji and the Hawaiian Islands. In Fiji, the expedition kidnapped the chief Ro Veidovi, charging him with the murder of a crew of American whalers. And, in July 1840, two sailors, one of whom was Wilkes' nephew, Midshipman Wilkes Henry, were killed while bartering for food on Fiji's Malolo Island. Wilkes' retribution was swift and severe. According to an old man of Malolo Island, nearly 80 Fijians were killed in the incident.
From December 1840 to March 1841, he employed hundreds of native Hawaiian porters and many of his men to haul a pendulum to the summit of Mauna Loa to measure gravity. Instead of using the existing trail, he blazed his own way, taking much longer than he anticipated. The conditions on the mountain reminded him of Antarctica. Many of his crew suffered snow blindness, altitude sickness and foot injuries from wearing out their shoes.
: 1841 Map of the Oregon Territory from Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition
He explored the west coast of North America, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, the Columbia River, San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River, in 1841.
He held the first American Independence Day celebration west of the Mississippi River in Dupont, Washington on July 5, 1841.
The United States Exploring Expedition passed through the Ellice Islands and visited Funafuti, Nukufetau and Vaitupu in 1841. The expedition returned by way of the Philippines, the Sulu Archipelago, Borneo, Singapore, Polynesia and the Cape of Good Hope, reaching New York on June 10, 1842.
After having completely encircled the globe, Wilkes had logged some 87,000 miles and lost two ships and 28 men. Wilkes was court-martialled upon his return for the loss of one of his ships on the Columbia River bar, for the regular mistreatment of his subordinate officers, and for excessive punishment of his sailors. A major witness against him was ship doctor Charles Guillou.
He was acquitted on all charges except illegally punishing men in his squadron. For a short time, he was attached to the Coast Survey, but from 1844 to 1861, he was chiefly engaged in preparing the report of the expedition.
His Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition was published in 1844. He edited the scientific reports of the expedition and was the author of Vol. XI and Vol. XXIII.
Alfred Thomas Agate, engraver and illustrator, was the designated portrait and botanical artist of the expedition. His work was used to illustrate the Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition.
The Narrative contains much interesting material concerning the manners, customs, political and economic conditions in many places then little known. Wilkes' 1841 Map of the Oregon Territory pre-dated John Charles Fremont's first Oregon Trail pathfinder expedition guided by Kit Carson during 1842.
Other valuable contributions were the three reports of James Dwight Dana on Zoophytes, Geology and Crustacea. Moreover, the specimens and artifacts brought back by expedition scientists ultimately formed the foundation for the Smithsonian Institution collection. In addition to many shorter articles and reports, Wilkes published the major scientific works Western America, including California and Oregon in 1849 and Voyage round the world: embracing the principal events of the narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition in one volume: illustrated with one hundred and seventy-eight engravings on wood in 1849, and Theory of the Winds in 1856.

Civil War

Wilkes was promoted to the rank of commander in 1843 and that of captain in 1855. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he was assigned to the command of to search for the Confederate commerce destroyer.

''Trent'' Affair

As part of these duties he visited the British colony of Bermuda. Acting on orders, Wilkes remained in port for nearly a week aboard his flagship,, violating the British rule that allowed American naval vessels to remain in port for only a single day. While Wilkes remained in port, his gunboats and blockaded Saint George's harbor, a key Confederate blockade runner base. The gunboats opened fire at the Royal Mail Ship Merlin.
When Wilkes learned that James Murray Mason and John Slidell, two Confederate commissioners to England, were bound for England on a British packet boat,, he ordered the steam frigate San Jacinto to stop them. On November 8, 1861, San Jacinto met Trent and fired two shots across its bow, forcing the ship to stop. A boarding party from San Jacinto led by its captain then boarded Trent and arrested Mason and Slidell. The diplomats were taken to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor.
The actions of "The Notorious Wilkes," as Bermuda media branded him, convinced many that full-scale war between the United States and the United Kingdom was inevitable.
He was officially thanked by Congress "for his brave, adroit and patriotic conduct". However, his action was later disavowed by President Lincoln due to diplomatic pressure by the British Government. His next service was in the James River flotilla and he was placed on the retired list on December 21, 1861. Subsequently, after reaching the rank of commodore on July 16, 1862, he was assigned to duty against blockade runners in the West Indies.

Promotion controversy

Wilkes acquired a reputation for sometimes acting arrogantly and capriciously, perhaps partly because of his open conflict with Gideon Welles, who was the Secretary of the Navy.
Welles recommended that Wilkes had been too old to receive the rank of commodore under the act then governing promotions. Wilkes wrote a scathing letter to Welles in response. The controversy ended in his court-martial in 1864. He was found guilty of disobedience of orders, insubordination, and other specifications. He was sentenced to public reprimand and suspension for three years. However, Lincoln reduced the suspension to one year, and the balance of charges were dropped. On July 25, 1866, he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral on the retired list.

Later life

Some historians speculate that Wilkes' obsessive behavior and harsh code of shipboard discipline shaped Herman Melville's characterization of Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick. Such speculation is not mentioned in the U.S. Naval historical archives.
In addition to his contribution to U.S. Naval history and scientific study in his official Narrative of the Exploration Squadron, Wilkes wrote his autobiography.
Wilkes died in Washington, DC, with the rank of Rear Admiral.
In August 1909, the United States moved his remains to Arlington National Cemetery. His gravestone says that "he discovered the Ant-arctic continent."

Legacy

The US Navy named four ships for Wilkes: torpedo boat served around the turn of the 20th century, destroyer served during World War I, and destroyer served during World War II.
An oceanographic survey vessel, USS Wilkes, was launched in 1969, sponsored by Mrs. Hollis Lyons Joy, Wilkes' great granddaughter.
Wilkes Land in Antarctica is named after him.
In 1923, Wilkes Island, one of the three islands surrounding the lagoon at Wake Atoll was named for Wilkes by Alexander Wetmore, lead scientist of the Tanager Expedition.
Captain Charles Wilkes Elementary in Bainbridge Island, Washington is his namesake.
Wilkes Boulevard in Columbia, Missouri is named in his honor, as is the Hawaiian plant genus Wilkesia.

Dates of rank

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