254 COMMITTEE ON 



voyage of discovery to the South seas and Pacific ocean, I have 

 to regret that the circumscribed limits of a letter will allow but 

 little more than the simple expression of an opinion on a subject 

 of so much national importance, and in relation to which so much 

 might be said in detail. 



"I have had some .experience in the navigation of the less- 

 frequented parts of the Pacific, at an earlier period of my life. 

 During my late voyage in the Potomac, I have had an opportunity 

 to add greatly to the knowledge acquired in former years. An 

 expedition, fitted out for the purpose of improving our knowledge 

 of the hydrography of those seas, has often been the subject of 

 my reflections. As the representative of a district largely engaged 

 in the whale-fishery, you must frequently have seen, from the 

 reports of masters of vessels engaged in that business, accounts 

 of new islands and reefs being frequently discovered, and which 

 are either not laid down on the charts, or so erroneously marked 

 that they can give no security to the mariner. It is probable that 

 not less than five hundred of these islands and reefs have been 

 marked with sufficient accuracy by our whalers, sealers, and traf- 

 fickers, of one kind or another, to enable an expedition to examine 

 the most important of them, without much loss of time in seeking 

 their positions. This will enable the discovery- vessels to do more 

 in less time than has probably ever been effected by a similar 

 enterprise from any other country. Of the extent of our interest 

 in those remote seas, I need not speak, as you are conversant with 

 the subject; besides, the interest has been fairly represented by 

 memorials to Congress. During the circumnavigation of the 

 globe, in which I crossed the equator six times, and varied my 

 course from 40 north . to 57 south latitude, I have never found 

 myself beyond the limits of our commercial marine. The accounts 

 given of the dangers and losses to which our shipping are exposed 

 by the extension of our trade into seas but little known, so far, in 

 my opinion, from being exaggerated, would admit of being placed 



