From a lithograph in Perry’s “Narrative.”
An amusing feature of the history of this expedition is found in the periodicals of the day, where it is said that the Japanese idea of entertaining their guests was a “disgusting exhibition” of the skill of their wrestlers, while the American idea of a return entertainment was a “brilliant” negro minstrel show in which the seamen of the fleet performed as well as the professional talent at “Christy’s” on Broadway might have done.
Japanese Wrestlers at Yokohama.
From a lithograph in Perry’s “Narrative.”
No elaborate résumé of the doings of the scientific explorers of the Navy can be given here. The exploring expedition of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, with the sloops Vincennes and Peacock, the brig Porpoise, the store-ship Relief, and the tenders Sea-gull and Flying Fish, was the most pretentious. It was authorized in 1836, and was directed chiefly to the extreme South, but some work was done among the islands of the Pacific. A number of thick quarto volumes give the reports of officers and specialists, but only people engaged in a scientific study of nature ever fully appreciated the great value of the work done. Lieutenant J. M. Gilliss, assisted by Lieutenant Archibald MacRea, Acting-Master S. L. Phelps, and Captain’s Clerk E. R. Smith, were members of a “United States Astronomical Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere” in 1849–52. There was an exploring expedition in the Parana in the steamer Water Witch, which was fired on by the Paraguyan dictator, and the event compelled a show of force, later on, in order to teach the people there to respect the flag. An exploration of the Dead Sea was made by Lieutenant William Francis Lynch, in 1848. In 1850 Lieutenant Edwin J. De Haven sailed from New York with the brigs Rescue and Advance, in search of the remains of Sir John Franklin, the Arctic explorer. A proper relation of what was accomplished by these and other expeditions of the kind would fill a large and most interesting work. But it may be said here that only a cursory examination of the reports of the officers making them is needed to show not only that the naval officers were fitted for the work in hand, but that the work accomplished was in its influence upon humanity in general, as well as upon the American nation, well worth its cost.
Commodore’s Pennant, 1812–1860.
From a pennant at the Naval Institute, Annapolis.
