intended, to quote the words of Congress, "for the purpose of
exploring and surveying the southern ocean, as well to determine the
existence of all doubtful islands and shoals as to discover and
accurately fix the position of those which lie in or near the track of
our vessels in that quarter and may have escaped the observation of
scientific navigators."

Lieutenant Wilkes sailed from Hampton Roads on the 19th of August, 1838,
his flagship being the 18-gun sloop-of-war _Vincennes_, the 18-gun
sloop-of-war _Peacock_, the 12-gun brig-of-war _Porpoise_, the storeship
_Relief_, the tender _Sea Gull_ and the tender _Flying Fish_. Since one
of the main objects was scientific research, the expedition was provided
with a philologist, naturalists, conchologists, mineralogist, botanist,
draughtsmen and a horticulturist.

A halt for a week was made at the Madeira Islands, when the ships headed
southward, reaching Rio Janeiro late in November. In January, 1839, they
halted at Orange Harbor, Terra del Fuego, and made it their base of
operations. On the 25th of February Lieutenant Wilkes, in the
_Porpoise_, accompanied by the _Sea Gull_, started for the South Pole.
On the 1st of March considerable ice and snow were encountered and an
island sighted, but the men could not land because of the surf. The next
day the Ashland Islands were discovered and soon after the two vessels
reached Palmersland. The following is the account of Lieutenant Wilkes:

"It was a day of great excitement to all, for we had ice of all kinds to
encounter, from the iceberg of huge quadrangular shape, with its
stratified appearance, to the sunken and deceptive masses that were
difficult to perceive before they were under the bow. I have rarely seen
a finer sight. The sea was literally studded with these beautiful
masses, some of pure white, others showing all shades of the opal,
others emerald green and occasionally, here and there, some of deep
black. Our situation was critical, but the weather favored us for a few
hours. On clearing these dangers we kept off to the south and west under
all sail, and at 9 P.M. we counted eight large islands. Afterward the
weather became so thick with mist and fog as to render it necessary to
lie to till daylight, before which time we had a heavy snowstorm. A
strong gale now set in from the southwest; the deck of the brig was
covered with ice and snow and the weather became exceedingly damp and
cold. The men were suffering n