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Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer, ship's captain, and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842).
During the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865, he commanded during the Trent Affair in which he stopped a Royal Mail ship and removed two Confederate diplomats, which almost led to war between the United States and the United Kingdom.
Seton later converted to Catholic Church, becoming the first American-born woman to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church. When Elizabeth was left widowed with five children, Charles was sent to a boarding school, and later attended Columbia College, which is the present-day Columbia University.
In 1833, for his survey of Narragansett Bay, he was placed in charge of the Navy's Department of Charts and Instruments, out of which developed the Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office. Wilkes' interdisciplinary expedition (1838–1842) set a physical oceanography benchmark for the office's first superintendent Matthew Fontaine Maury.
He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1843.
The Exploring Expedition, commonly known as the Wilkes Expedition, included natural history, , a mineralogist, , artists, and a philologist, and it was carried by (780 tons) and (650 tons), the brig (230 tons), the store-ship , and two , (110 tons) and (96 tons).Tyler, David B (1968) The Wilkes Expedition. The First United States Exploring Expedition (1838–42). Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society
Departing from Hampton Roads on August 18, 1838, the expedition stopped at the Madeira Islands and Rio de Janeiro; visited Tierra del Fuego, Chile, Peru, the Tuamotu Archipelago, Samoa, and New South Wales; from Sydney sailed into the Antarctic Ocean in December 1839 and reported the discovery "of an Antarctic continent west of the Balleny Islands" of which it sighted the coast on January 25, 1840. After charting 1500 miles of Antarctic coastline, the expedition visited Fiji and the Hawaiian Islands. In Fiji, the expedition kidnapped the chief Ro Veidovi, charging him with the murder of a crew of American whalers. And, in July 1840, two sailors, one of whom was Wilkes' nephew, Midshipman Wilkes Henry, were killed while bartering for food on Fiji's Malolo Island. Wilkes' retribution was swift and severe. According to an old man from Malolo Island, nearly 80 Fijians were killed in the incident.
From December 1840 to March 1841, he employed hundreds of native Hawaiian porters and many of his men to haul a pendulum to the summit of Mauna Loa to measure gravity. Instead of using the existing trail, he blazed his own way, taking much longer than he anticipated. The conditions on the mountain reminded him of Antarctica. Many of his crew suffered snow blindness, altitude sickness and foot injuries from wearing out their shoes.
He explored the west coast of North America, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, the Columbia River, San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River, in 1841. He held the first American Independence Day celebration west of the Mississippi River in Dupont, Washington, on July 5, 1841. The United States Exploring Expedition passed through the Tuvalu and visited Funafuti, Nukufetau and Vaitupu in 1841.The visit to the Ellice Islands (now known as Tuvalu) is described in Chapter 2 in volume 5, pp. 35–75, 'Ellice's and Kingsmill's Group' sil.si.edu The expedition returned by way of the Philippines, the Sulu Archipelago, Borneo, Singapore, Polynesia and the Cape of Good Hope, reaching New York on June 10, 1842.
After having completely encircled the globe as the last all-sail naval mission to do so, Wilkes had logged some 87,000 miles and lost two ships and 28 men. Wilkes was court-martial upon his return for the loss of one of his ships on the Columbia River bar, for the regular mistreatment of his subordinate officers, and for excessive punishment of his sailors. A major witness against him was ship doctor Charles Guillou. He was acquitted on all charges except illegally punishing men in his squadron. For a short time, he was attached to the Coast Survey, but from 1844 to 1861, he was chiefly engaged in preparing the report of the expedition.
His Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition (5 volumes and an atlas) was published in 1844. He edited the scientific reports of the expedition (19 volumes and 11 atlases, 1844–1874) and was the author of Vol. XI (Meteorology) and Vol. XXIII (Hydrography). Alfred Thomas Agate, engraver and illustrator, was the designated portrait and botanical artist of the expedition. His work was used to illustrate the Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition.The extensive report of the expedition has been digitized by the Smithsonian Institution. The visit to the Ellice Islands (now known as Tuvalu) is described in Chapter 2 in volume 5, pp. 35–75, 'Ellice's and Kingsmill's Group', sil.si.edu The Narrative contains much interesting material concerning the manners, customs, political and economic conditions in many places then little known. Wilkes' 1841 Map of the Oregon Territory pre-dated John Charles Fremont's first Oregon Trail pathfinder expedition guided by Kit Carson during 1842.
Other valuable contributions were the three reports of James Dwight Dana on (1846), Geology (1849) and Crustacean (1852–1854). Moreover, the specimens and artifacts brought back by expedition scientists ultimately formed the foundation for the Smithsonian Institution collection. In addition to many shorter articles and reports, Wilkes published the major scientific works Western America, including California and Oregon in 1849 and Voyage round the world: embracing the principal events of the narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition in one volume: illustrated with one hundred and seventy-eight engravings on wood in 1849, and Theory of the Winds in 1856.
When Wilkes learned that James Murray Mason and John Slidell, two Confederate commissioners (to Britain and France, respectively), were bound for England on a British packet boat, , he ordered the steam frigate San Jacinto to stop them. On November 8, 1861, San Jacinto met Trent and fired two shots across its bow, forcing the ship to stop. A party from San Jacinto led by its captain then boarded Trent and arrested Mason and Slidell, a further violation of British Neutral country. The diplomats were taken to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor.
The actions of "The Notorious Wilkes," as Bermuda media branded him, were contrary to maritime law and convinced many that full-scale war between the United States and England was inevitable.
He was officially thanked by Congress "for his brave, adroit and patriotic conduct". However, his action was later disavowed by Abraham Lincoln due to diplomatic protests by the British government (Mason and Slidell were released). His next service was in the James River flotilla and he was placed on the retired list on December 21, 1861. Subsequently, after reaching the rank of commodore on July 16, 1862, he was assigned to duty against blockade runners in the West Indies.
Wilkes justified his actions by calling the ports little short of operational bases for blockade runners. His capture of ships such as the Peterhoff, Dolphin, Springbok, and Victor resulted in diplomatic remonstrations explicitly directed against Wilkes. He was recalled from his West Indies command in June 1863, a consequence of multiple factors. His failure to capture the Confederate commerce raiders certainly played a role, and his retention of the USS Vanderbilt in direct contravention of explicit orders to release it to independently hunt the Alabama served as a justification, but he probably owed his removal primarily to the seeming never-ending stream of complaints from neutral nations over his actions.
When Welles severely criticized Wilkes in his December 1863 annual report over his retention of the Vanderbilt, Wilkes wrote a scathing response that found its way into the newspapers. A court of inquiry accused Wilkes of responsibility for its publication, and he was brought before a March 1864 court martial, facing charges of disobedience of orders, insubordination, disrespect of a superior officer, disobedience of naval regulations, and conduct unbecoming an officer. He was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to public reprimand and suspension for three years. However, Lincoln reduced the suspension to one year, and the balance of charges were dropped. On July 25, 1866, he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral on the retired list.
In addition to his contribution to United States naval history and scientific study in his official Narrative of the Exploration Squadron (6 volumes), Wilkes wrote his autobiography.
Wilkes died in Washington, D.C., with the rank of Rear Admiral. In August 1909, the United States moved his remains to Arlington National Cemetery. His gravestone says that "He discovered the Ant-arctic continent." sic Burial Detail: Wilkes, Charles (Section 2, Grave 1164) – ANC Explorer
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