The Life of Charles Wilkes, American Naval Officer and Explorer
Charles Wilkes (1798–1877) was an American naval officer and explorer. Wilkes was born in New York City on April 3, 1798. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1818, did service during the next few years in Mediterranean and Pacific areas, and in 1832–1833 did survey work in Narragansett Bay, which led to his appointment in Washington, D.C., to head a depot of charts and instruments that eventually became the United States Naval Observatory.
In 1838 Wilkes was put in command of an important expedition for scientific exploration that took him to several island groups of the South Pacific, Australia, the Antarctic coastal areas now known as Wilkes Land, the Hawaiian Islands, the northwest coast of the United States, and islands of Oceania, completing a voyage around the world before his return to New York in the summer of 1842.
During the next 20 years his main occupation was the preparation of records of this expedition. He wrote a 5-volume Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition (1844), and in addition to editing the 20-volume report of the expedition he prepared two of the special volumes himself—the meteorology (1851) and the hydrography (1861). He also prepared atlases for these projects and published Western America (1849) and other books, articles, and reports. He was the first to make a defensible claim of having discovered an Antarctic continent.
At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, Wilkes was placed in command of the U.S.S. San Jacinto and ordered to search for a Confederate vessel in the Caribbean area. On Nov. 8, 1861, he stopped the British steamer Trent and unlawfully removed the Confederate commissioners James M. Mason and John Slidell, who were en route to England.
He received promotions and further war assignments, but later he incurred disfavor which resulted in his being placed on the retired list. When he incurred further conflict with the Navy Department, he was subjected to court-martial, reprimanded, and suspended from duty. But in 1866 he was commissioned a rear admiral and retained on the retired list. Wilkes died in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 8, 1877.
In 1838 Wilkes was put in command of an important expedition for scientific exploration that took him to several island groups of the South Pacific, Australia, the Antarctic coastal areas now known as Wilkes Land, the Hawaiian Islands, the northwest coast of the United States, and islands of Oceania, completing a voyage around the world before his return to New York in the summer of 1842.
During the next 20 years his main occupation was the preparation of records of this expedition. He wrote a 5-volume Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition (1844), and in addition to editing the 20-volume report of the expedition he prepared two of the special volumes himself—the meteorology (1851) and the hydrography (1861). He also prepared atlases for these projects and published Western America (1849) and other books, articles, and reports. He was the first to make a defensible claim of having discovered an Antarctic continent.
At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, Wilkes was placed in command of the U.S.S. San Jacinto and ordered to search for a Confederate vessel in the Caribbean area. On Nov. 8, 1861, he stopped the British steamer Trent and unlawfully removed the Confederate commissioners James M. Mason and John Slidell, who were en route to England.
He received promotions and further war assignments, but later he incurred disfavor which resulted in his being placed on the retired list. When he incurred further conflict with the Navy Department, he was subjected to court-martial, reprimanded, and suspended from duty. But in 1866 he was commissioned a rear admiral and retained on the retired list. Wilkes died in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 8, 1877.
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