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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Charles Wilkes Biography WILKES,
Charles (1798-1877). An American naval officer and explorer, born in New
York City. He received a common school education, entered the United States navy
as a midshipman in 1818, served in the Mediterranean and the Pacific, became a
lieutenant in 1826, and in 1830 was placed in charge of the United States
department of charts and instruments. In 1838 he was placed in command of an
expedition authorized by act of Congress of May 18, 1836, for the purpose of
exploring and surveying the Southern Ocean. This was the first expedition fitted
out by the National government for scientific purposes. Between the years 1838
and 1842 the expedition visited the Madeira Islands and Rio de Janeiro in 1838;
Tierra del Fuego, Chile, Peru, the Paumotou group, Tahiti, Tutuila and the
Samoan group, and New South Wales in 1839; the Antarctic regions, New Zealand,
the Fiji group, and the Hawaiian Islands in 1840; the Columbia River, of which a
survey was made, Willamette valley, and part of the California coast in 1841;
and the Philippine Islands, Sulu Archipelago, St. Helena, Singapore, and the
Polynesian Islands in 1842. A great mass of valuable scientific information was
collected during the voyage and afterward published in 19 large volumes. A very
valuable part of the report was that of J. D. Dana (q.v.). Wilkes wrote the
volumes on Meteorology and Hydrography,
and also the Narrative of the United
States Exploring Expedition (6 vols., 1845; abridged ed., 1850). The claim
of Wilkes to the discovery of an Antarctic continent has not always been
conceded although Sir Ernest Shackleton and Sir Douglas Mawson (qq.v.) later
confirmed Wilkes's discoveries. Wilkes became a commander in 1843 and a captain
in 1855, and in 1861, upon the outbreak of the Civil War,
was placed in command of the frigate San
Jacinto and sent to the West Indies in search of the Confederate cruiser Sumter. On Nov. 8, 1861, he stopped at sea the English mail steamer Trent,
and removed therefrom Mason and Slidell, the Confederate commissioners to
England and France respectively. (See TRENT AFFAIR.) Wilkes commanded the
Potomac flotilla in 1862, and later commanded the flying squadron ordered to
prevent blockade running between the West Indies and the Confederacy. He became
a commodore in July, 1862, was placed on the retired list in June, 1864, and
became a rear admiral on the retired list in July, 1866. Besides the reports
mentioned above, he published: Western
America, Including California and Oregon (1849); and The
Theory of the Wind (1855). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 564. |