HIS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA 81 



covery. In addition to the Exploring Expedition under 

 Wilkes, which spent three years and ten months in 

 exploring the islands of the Pacific and established the 

 fact of the existence of the Antarctic continent, there 

 were many others of the same nature. Lieutenant 

 William Francis Lynch, in 1847-1848, led an expedition 

 which surveyed the Dead Sea; in 1850-1851, Lieutenant 

 Edward J. De Haven commanded a squadron which 

 went into the Arctic in search of Sir John Franklin, and 

 though unsuccessful in finding the English explorer, he 

 made important scientific discoveries; Commander Cad- 

 walader Ringgold, during 1853-1854, and then Com- 

 mander John Rodgers, in the following years 1' 55-1' 56, 

 explored and surveyed Bering Strait, the North Pacific 

 Ocean, and the China Seas; and in 1853, Dr. F^lisl.a K. 

 Kane, U. S. Navy led another expedition into the Arctic 

 regions in search of Franklin and off Greenland reached 

 a stretch of water which he thought confirmed Maury's 

 theory as to an open polar sea. Between 1848 and 1852, 

 Lieutenant John P. Gilliss conducted an astronomical 

 expedition to Chile, Lieutenant Archibald McRae tra- 

 versed the Pampas from Chile to Buenos Ayres, Lieu- 

 tenant Isaac G. Strain explored the Isthmus of Darien, 

 Lieutenant Richard L. Page investigated the La Plata 

 and its tributaries, and Lieutenant William Lewis 

 Herndon made his famous trip across South America 

 from the west coast to ^the headwaters of the Amazon 

 and then down that stream to the Atlantic. Further- 

 more, it was at about this same time that Commodore 

 Matthew Calbraith Perry went to Japan and by skillful 

 diplomacy opened up that country to western civiliza- 

 tion. 



Maury simply reveled in the results of these various 



