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In 1822 Captain Benjamin Morrell sailed to the Antarctic seas in the Wasp. Reaching 70° 14', he resolved to make an appeal to the United States Government for countenance and assistance to enable him to go farther. To the only free nation on the earth," said he, “should belong the glory of exploring a spot of the globe which is the ne plus ultra of latitude." Fanning was confident that vessels could reach the South Pole, and in 1829-30 he was in charge of the brigs Seraph and Annawan on an "infant expedition to the South Seas."

In 1826, John N. Reynolds, a native of Ohio, and a congressman (who went with the Annawan expedition as far as the west coast of South America), had proposed the project of a Pacific and Polar expedition under the auspices of the Government. His idea was seconded by citizens of Nantucket and other New England seaports, and by the legislatures of seven States. The Maryland House of Delegates, mentioning the enterprise of other nations in acquiring geographical knowledge, extending their influence, and opening new channels of commerce, asserted that the United States, after its success in the stu

Morrell said: "But these lands were visited fifteen years ago by our sealers and taken possession of in the name of our sovereign, the people; and when a true record shall be made . . . the name of Adelaide Island must be changed. . . . We have a long running, unsettled account in this matter of giving names to places, with some of our neighbors, which we may as well begin to have posted up, for the purpose of preventing future disputes. . . . Our hardy seamen feel able even to cast anchor on that point where all the meridians terminate, where our flag may be unfurled and left to wave." [J. N. Reynolds' Address, 1836.]

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Capt. Benj. Morrell: A Narrative of Four Voyages to the South Sea, etc., 1822-31, N. Y., 1832.

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Edward Fanning: Voyages Around the World, etc., 1792-1832. During the summer of 1828 Reynolds had obtained data from whaling captains of New London, Newport, Nantucket, etc., and from their log-books, showing that 200 American vessels were engaged in whaling and seal fisheries, capturing about 8000 whales each year, and that our enterprising seamen had often discovered rocks, reefs, and islands, and in many cases had given valuable information to European chart makers.

pendous experiment of self-government in politics, with its increasing population and commercial relations and interest coextensive with the civilized world, could afford to enter into the "interesting and extensive field for enterprise in the Southern hemisphere," and offered a resolution that a polar expedition could scarcely fail in adding something to the general stock of national wealth and knowledge, and to the honor and glory of the United States." Other petitions or memorials urged that the American industry in the Pacific having increased the wealth of our country, and furnished a nursery for bold and hardy seamen, as well as a source of employment and human comforts, had made intercourse with the Pacific a matter of public interest and should be encouraged by the survey of islands and coasts."

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In January and February, 1828, the subject was brought before Congress by executive documents, and on May 21 a resolution of the House requested the President to send one or more small vessels to the Pacific and South Seas to examine coasts, islands and reefs, and ascertain their location. The Secretary of the Navy selected the Peacock, and in November, 1828, suggested the purchase of another vessel and the selection of instruments and scientific men.

In February, 1829, the House still urged the expedition, and the Secretary of the Navy, in a document sent to that body, stated that the object was to examine islands and coasts, "both known and unknown," as far south as circumstances, safety and prudence would permit explorations, and that an additional appropriation would be needed."

The Senate, to which the House resolution had never been submitted, feeling that the expedition would be expensive and was related to the foreign policy, favored delay and investigation, and hoped that the Secretary of the Navy

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'H. Exec. Doc. 88, 20-1, vol. iii, Jan. 22, 1828.

'H. Exec. Docs. 179 and 201, 20-1, vol. v, Feb. and March, 1828. 'Sen. Exec. Doc. 77, 20-2, Feb. 16, 1829.

would never again feel justified to act upon the resolution of the House alone. The Senate committee, considering the wide unsettled and unexplored regions at home, saw nothing in the condition of the United States to recommend distant voyages of exploration, and feared that the discovery of countless islands or new continents might result in the evils of adventure, visionary hopes and large emigration, tending to urge us "to plant the American standard on soil discovered by American enterprise," and, perhaps, to establish distant and expensive colonies, "which could only be defended at an expense not to be estimated, and which could not be taken under the protection of the United States without an abandonment of the fundamental principles of our policy, and a departure from those wise and prudent maxims which have hitherto restrained us from forming unnecessary connexions abroad."

The majority of the committee thought that before venturing upon a premature expedition to distant seas, where even to survey the 200 known islands would be a large undertaking, the Government should make accurate surveys of our coasts. Though they held that the opening of new sources to commerce, as well as agriculture, might safely be left to the enterprise and instinctive sagacity of individuals, they favored a small expedition to make surveys in the track of our vessels in the Pacific.'

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After sailing to the Pacific and circumnavigating the globe, Reynolds returned to the United States in 1834, and prepared to renew his project in Congress. Collecting information which he had received from the whalers," he proposed exploration on both sides of the equator from South America to Asia, and southward beyond previous discoveries. (Captain Cook had been stopped by ice at 68° south latitude, but Captain Palmer and other Americans had

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10 Sen. Rp. 94, 20-2, Feb. 23, 1829. Mrs. A. E. Carrell, on the First American Exploring Expedition," in Harper's Mag., vol. xliv, Dec., 1871.

11 Exec. Doc. 105, 23-2, Jan. 24, 1835.

gone beyond that in search of furs and seals.) J. Q. Adams led the House in favor of the expedition, and an act of Congress, May 14, 1835, authorized it. Many thought the expedition should be scientific, and that it might throw some light on the source of the American aborigines. Some opposed the enterprise on the ground that it was an eastern measure, and a visionary one." Hawes, of Kentucky (May 5, 1836) compared it to the establishment of light-houses in the skies, and said, if it passed, he expected a proposition for a voyage to the moon next. Others urged that it was for the general interest. Though Jackson favored the expedition, his Secretary of the Navy, Dickerson, did not, and during the three years of preparation Russia sent out three expeditions.

Reynolds continued to urge that the United States should increase our knowledge of the Pacific" in order to render less hazardous the voyages of our hardy sailors upon the rock-chafed billows of seas only partially explored, and in unfrequented bays of barbarous natives. Of the coast of Sumatra, where many of our vessels sailed and where we had recently sent the Potomac to punish the natives who had captured the American Friendship, we had no charts; nor had we any of the Fijis, where several of our ships had been lost and men slaughtered. In the vicinity of the Society, New Caledonia and Solomon's Islands, where we had over 200 whale ships, there was much danger of shipwreck. The stories of lost mariners were not fictions. Almost every arrival from the Pacific" brought some news of shipwreck, mutiny or massacre. Even at the Friendly Islands captains had been seized in order to exact ransoms, and the presence of a man-of-war seemed to be necessary to protect seamen who had never received any bounties, but who, as children of the sea, might be called to bear a double share

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J. N. Reynolds' Address, Apr. 3, 1836.

In 1837 it was estimated that the United States had 460 vessels in the Pacific. This was one-tenth of all our tonnage.

of usefulness in some great ocean conflict of the future. The United States squadron on the Pacific coasts at this time consisted only of one frigate, two sloops and a schooner. Reynolds considered that a judicious exhibition of a stronger force, together with a humane policy, was necessary to gain the confidence of the natives."

Those who urged the expedition proposed that it should have the following purposes:16

1. To note accurately the position of islands and harbors and rocks along the paths of United States whalers and traders.

2. To release from the islands unhappy captives left there by wrecks.

3. To suppress misconduct on American vessels, prevent mutiny and desertions, and endeavor to end cruelty, licentiousness and extortion in the islands.

4. Look for land in the South polar seas.

5. Collect specimens and facts to subserve the advancement of science in natural history, linguistics, etc.

Leaders in Navy Department circles held that it would encroach upon the rights of naval officers for a corps of scientific citizens to accompany the expedition. Many obstacles were presented to defeat the object of the enterprise. The people were told that it would be expensive, confer no benefit upon commerce, and that it aimed at nothing but to explore Antarctic icebergs. The Navy Department decided Reynolds should not accompany the expedition, and taking advantage of the crisis of 1837, convoked a

15 On June II, 1836, Benjamin Rodman, of New Bedford, in a letter to J. N. Reynolds, referring to the advantages which the expedition would have upon our marine colonies, said: “Why should we have governors, judges, and all the paraphernalia of courts in territories where there is a bare possibility that an Indian may be murdered, or become a murderer, steal a horse or have his horse stolen; and not have a superintending influence abroad, where our ships are daily traversing from island to island. that the savage may be awed into respect, and the mutineer's hand bound in submission?" N. Am. Rev., Oct., 1837.

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