INTRODUCTION. xy {[ 
officers of the Brooklyn Navy- Yard. To Commodore Dowries and 
Captain Percival, of the Navy- Yard, Boston, we are also under great 
obligations. The boats prepared under the direction of the last named 
officers, were found to be well adapted for the service. They were all 
clinker-built with the exception of the launches, and of the description 
used by whalers and sealers. 
After the Peacock's return in 1837, she had undergone little or no 
repairs. Her bottom was indeed sound, being built of live-oak, but 
her upper-works were worn and much decayed, as the sequel proved. 
After this vessel left the Navy- Yard at Norfolk, her fore and cross- 
jackyards were found by her commander to be rotten. On its being 
reported to the commandant of the yard, they were ordered to be 
replaced, and all the other defects partially remedied. 
The carpenter of the Washington Navy-Yard, Mr. J. H. Smoot, 
built for me, under order of the Commissioners of the Navy, a very 
convenient portable pendulum-house and observatory, which answered 
every purpose for which it was intended. 
The organization of this Expedition has frequently been a subject 
of remark. I have therefore obtained all the papers that passed 
between the government and Captain Hudson, in relation to it, prior 
to his accepting the position he occupied. They form, with a few 
remarks, the first pages of the Appendix to this volume, and will place 
the whole in its true light. 
The Narrative will fully show the part he has taken in carrying out 
the instructions of the Department, and I must acknowledge and 
return my thanks to him for the aid he afforded me in the arduous 
duties that devolved upon me. 
To Lieutenant Cadwalader Ringgold, the commander of the Por- 
poise, I am indebted, for his hearty co-operation in the duties that 
devolved upon the Expedition. The efficient manner in which he at 
all times held his command, and the promptness with which he 
carried out the duties assigned him, merit my warmest acknowledg- 
ments and thanks. 
The best encomium I can bestow on the united efforts of the 
officers and men, is to refer the reader to the Hydrographical Atlas, 
