Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842"A treasure of a book."—David McCullough The harrowing story of a pathbreaking naval expedition that set out to map the entire Pacific Ocean, dwarfing Lewis and Clark with its discoveries, from the New York Times bestselling author of Valiant Ambition and In the Hurricane's Eye. A New York Times Notable Book America's first frontier was not the West; it was the sea, and no one writes more eloquently about that watery wilderness than Nathaniel Philbrick. In his bestselling In the Heart of the Sea Philbrick probed the nightmarish dangers of the vast Pacific. Now, in an epic sea adventure, he writes about one of the most ambitious voyages of discovery the Western world has ever seen—the U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842. On a scale that dwarfed the journey of Lewis and Clark, six magnificent sailing vessels and a crew of hundreds set out to map the entire Pacific Ocean and ended up naming the newly discovered continent of Antarctica, collecting what would become the basis of the Smithsonian Institution. Combining spellbinding human drama and meticulous research, Philbrick reconstructs the dark saga of the voyage to show why, instead of being celebrated and revered as that of Lewis and Clark, it has—until now—been relegated to a footnote in the national memory. Winner of the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize |
Contents
PREFACE | xv |
Part One | 1 |
The Great South Sea | 3 |
The Deplorable Expedition | 17 |
Most Glorious Hopes | 43 |
Part Two | 61 |
At Sea | 63 |
The Turning Point | 87 |
Mauna Loa | 233 |
The Wreck of the Peacock | 259 |
Homeward Bound | 287 |
Part Four | 301 |
Reckoning | 303 |
This Thing Called Science | 331 |
Legacy | 347 |
Epilogue | 361 |
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Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery : the U.S. Exploring Expedition ... Nathaniel Philbrick No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
aboard ahead Alden American anchor Antarctic Antarctica began boat cabin canoes Cape Horn Captain Charles Wilkes chart coast Columbia River commander Commodore Cook courtesy Smithsonian Institution Couthouy crew cruise Dana deck discovery Emmons Erskine Expedition's Fiji Fijian Flying Fish George Guillou Henry History Hudson icebergs insisted island James James Dwight Dana Jeremiah Jeremiah Reynolds John land later letter to Jane Lieutenant Lydia Malolo marines Mauna Loa miles Narrative natives Ocean officers Orange Bay Pacific Passed Midshipman Peacock pendulum Pinkney Poinsett Porpoise Press Reynolds wrote Reynolds's Ringgold sail sailors schooner Science scientists Sea Gull secretary ship ship's shore Sinclair Smithsonian Institution Libraries soon squadron survey Sydney tion Titian Peale U.S. Ex U.S. Exploring Expedition U.S. Navy Underwood Upshur Veidovi vessels Vincennes Vincennes's voyage Washington Wilkes decided Wilkes Expedition Wilkes ordered Wilkes tells Wilkes wrote Wilkes's William Reynolds wind wrote Jane York