UNITED STATES EXPLORING EXPEDITION 



Committee on Naval Affairs, and from the Secretary of 

 the Navy, Mr. Southard, and this all resulted in a request 

 from the House of Representatives to the President, that 

 he would send " one of our small vessels to the Pacific 

 Ocean and South- Seas, to ascertain their true situation 

 and description." 



Apparently because of the unwillingness of Congress 

 to make an adequate appropriation, the final orders were 

 not given, although much preliminary work was done, 

 including the selection, by the Navy Department, of as- 

 tronomers, naturalists, and others " who were willing to 

 encounter the trials ' ' proposed. The Peacock was chosen 

 for the voyage, officers were designated, and orders were 

 given for instruments and books. In the summer of 

 1828, Reynolds visited the towns of New England inter- 

 ested in whaling and in East India commerce, and col- 

 lected from log-books, journals, and charts, as well as 

 from conversation with returned navigators, many signifi- 

 cant facts, which he communicated to the Secretary of the 

 Navy, as the basis of future investigations. Neverthe- 

 less, the official proceedings halted. 



Although the persistent advocate of the scheme con- 

 stantly urged the importance of protecting the whaling 

 vessels of the United States, he was large-minded enough 

 to advocate also, with energy and intelligence, " a naval 

 enterprise or voyage of discovery to be fitted out in the 

 best manner, with every scientific appliance, at the public 

 expense, for the sole purpose of increasing our know- 

 ledge of the Pacific and Southern oceans, where our 

 commerce is now carried on ... far beyond the 

 bounds of ordinary protection. ' ' He says that the friends 

 of his project believe " that an expedition could scarcely 

 fail in making discoveries of some interest, by finding 

 new islands, or increasing our knowledge of those already 

 laid on the maps; and that commerce might be benefited 

 by surveying the coasts frequented by our hardy fisher- 



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