532 FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. [20] 



torn specimens obtained by sounding have always been turned over to the United 

 States National Museum, but only a few of these have yet been studied, for the want of 

 funds. Other services by naval officers are referred to in connection with the Coast 

 Survey. A full set of the hydrographic charts of the United States Navy, showing 

 extent and character of explorations, are exhibited. The following are among the 

 more important natural history surveys of this department. 



The Wilkes Expedition. — The United States Exploring Expedition around the World, 

 under the command of Captain (Admiral) Charles Wilkes, United States Navy, was 

 one of the most successful expeditions for scientific purposes ever organised by any 

 government. It left this country in 1838 and returned iu 1842. The fleet consisted of 

 six vessels, as follows: Sloop of war "Vincennes," flagship; sloop of war " Peacock," 

 Captain W. L. Hudson; brig "Porpoise," Lieutenant Cadwalader Ringgold; store- 

 ship " Relief/' Lieutenant A. K.Loug; and the tenders "Sea Gull "and "Flying Fish." 

 The scientific corps consisted of the following persons : Horatio Hale, philologist ; 

 Charles Pickering and T. R. Peale, naturalists; J. P. Conthouy, conchologist; James 

 D. Dana, mineralogist ; William Rich and J. D. Breckenridge, botanists ; Joseph 

 Drayton aud A. T. Agate, draughtsmen. Included in the general instructions to the 

 commanding officer was the following paragraph relating to the scientific objects of 

 the survey: "Although the primary object of the expedition is the promotion of the 

 great interests of commerce and navigation, yet you will take all occasions, not in- 

 compatible with the great purposes of your undertaking, to extend the bounds of 

 science and promote the acquisition of knowledge." 



Leaving Norfolk, Virginia, August 18, 1838, the course lay southward through the 

 Atlantic Ocean, via the Island of Madeira, Cape de Verde Islands, Rio de Janeiro, and 

 the eastern coast of Southern South America, to Terra del Fuego ; thence northward 

 along the western coast of South America as far as Callao, and from there to the islands 

 of the Central and South Pacific Ocean, Australia, and the west coast of the United- 

 States. The principal places visited in the Pacific Ocean region Avere the Paumotu 

 Group, Society Islands, Samoan Group, Feejee Islands, Southeastern Australia, New 

 Zealand, the icy barrier of the supposed Antarctic Continent, Kingsmill Islands, Sand- 

 wich Islands, and the coast of the United States, from San Francisco to Paget Soi>nd. 

 From the Pacific Ocean the expedition passed by way of the China Sea, Sooloo Sea, 

 and the Straits of Sunda, into the Indian Ocean, making especially large collections 

 at Singapore. From the Indian Ocean, the expedition returned home via the Cape of 

 Good Hope. The collections made in the course of this long cruise embraced every 

 branch of natural history and were exceptionally large. They formed the basis of 

 the United States National Museum at the time of its foundation, and are still among 

 its most interesting features. As many of the regions visited were previously un- 

 known to civilization, the value of the scientific observations cannot be readily over- 

 estimated. 



As regards marine explorations, most attention was paid to the study of the struct- 

 ure and formation of coral reefs and islands, and the coral, crustacean, niolluscan, 

 and fish faunae. The publications, completed in 1858, comprise 24 volumes of text, 

 mostly quartos, 13 atlases and 2 volumes of charts, covering all the geological, zo- 

 ological and botanical results of the expedition, in addiiion to the regular surveying 

 work. The zoophytes and Crustacea were described by Professor James D. Dana, in 

 three quarto volumes of text and two folio atlases; the mollusks by A. A. Gould, in 

 one volume of text, and one atlas ; the geographical distribution of species by Charles 

 Pickering, in one volume. 



In his official Smithsonian report, for 1858, Professor Baird remarks regarding the 

 Wilkes expedition that " The collections made by this naval expedition are supposed 

 greatly to exceed those of any other of similar character ever fitted out by a foreign 

 government, no published series of results comparing at all in magnitude with that 

 issued under the direction of the Joint Library Committee of Congress." 



The North Pacific Exploring Expedition, as it is commonly called, has, next to frUo 



