The US Exploring Expedition
At Norfolk, Virginia the Sea Gull joined the other ships of the expedition: flagship Vincennes, Peacock, Porpoise, the schooner Flying Fish, and the supply ship Relief.
The ships left Norfolk on August 18, 1838, for the tip of South America, where they would await the slower Relief and then continue to Antarctica and the Pacific Islands. After surveying and collecting specimens, the remaining ships would sail to Hawaii and then the Columbia River to survey that area then return to the United States via the Cape of Good Hope on June 9, 1842.
The Sea Gull, commanded by Lieutenant Robert Johnson and in the company of the Porpoise, headed south from Orange Bay on the tip of South America on February 25, 1839, to explore the area of the South Shetland Islands. Both ships encountered heavy seas which resulted in a broken gaff for the Sea Gull; the crew was constantly drenched by huge waves. Soon they encountered snow squalls and penguins. Huge icebergs were sighted, some said to be as large as the U.S. Capitol building. On March 1, some islands of the South Shetlands were sighted. Attempts were made to land on the islands and gather specimens but the seas proved too rough to make a landing. On March 5, the wind increased to a whole gale and the commander of the expedition — Lt. Charles Wilkes — ordered the ships about and headed north. Wilkes ordered Johnson to proceed back to Orange Bay after stopping at Deception Island to attempt to retrieve a self-reading thermometer left there by an earlier British expedition. After removing ice from the ship's rigging, the crew of the Sea Gull headed for Deception. The crew didn't find the thermometer but did experience the volcanism of the island finding it frightening and unnerving to know they were standing on an active volcano. Eventually the ship made its way to Orange Bay. After reaching Orange Bay the Sea Gull participated in a search for a missing crew in a survey launch, finding the launch eventually safe and sound with all aboard.
Read more about this topic: USS Sea Gull (1838)
Famous quotes containing the words exploring and/or expedition:
“Infants and young children are not just sitting twiddling their thumbs, waiting for their parents to teach them to read and do math. They are expending a vast amount of time and effort in exploring and understanding their immediate world. Healthy education supports and encourages this spontaneous learning.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the factories, the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination.”
—Janet Frame (b. 1924)