Americans in Antarctica, 1775-1948.

Bertrand, Kenneth J. New York: American Geographical Society, 1971.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

With some anomalies, this is a remarkably sound guide to American exploration in the Antarctic.

Ships and Squadron Logistics,

Lundeberg, Philip K. in Magnificent Voyagers: The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842. Edited by Herman J. Viola and Carolyn Margolis. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. 152, describing accommodations on the flagship Vincennes: Wilkes own stateroom and pantry, and a large reception room that accommodated drafting tables and a library of charts and scientific works, as well as the ample conference table and sideboards customary in small frigates.

Thulia: A Tale of the Antarctic.

Palmer, James Croxall. New-York: S. Colman, 1843.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A narrative poem about the sailing travails of the US schooner Flying-Fish on the US Exploring Expedition (1838-42). An appendix describes the circumstances that the poem portrays. Basically this is doggerel poetry describing two vessels of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition, the Peacock, and the Flying-Fish. An appendix describes the adventures of the latter ship:

Sea of Glory: America’s Voyage of Discovery. The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842.

Philbrick, Nathaniel. New York: Viking, 2003.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. 11, when in 1821 Charles Wilkes was assigned to the Franklin for a cruise to the Pacific: The Franklin proved to be just the ship for an officer of Wilkes’s interests. On the gun deck there was a library, and Wilkes, with the help of an assistant became the librarian.

Titian Ramsay Peale 1799-1885, and His Journals of the Wilkes Expedition.

Poesch, Jessie. Philadelphia, Pa: American Philosophical Society, 1961.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This book constitutes a fairly broad biographical introduction to Titian Peale, as well as his journals of the Wilkes expedition, not a happy camper much of the time and bitterly disappointed afterwards, when his work was denigrated and to some extent perverted by other parties. But much of it is fascinating and worth reading, even in the tiny font APS has chosen for this book.

Address, on the Subject of a Surveying and Exploring Expedition to the Pacific Ocean and South Seas…April 3, 1836.

Reynolds, Jeremiah N. New York: Harper, 1836.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Recounts importance of maritime power to U.S. for commerce, yielding the North and Arctic to Britain which he says will find the Northwest Passage, and arguing for scientific exploration (p. 22-3) without immediate dividends though the practical benefits will soon follow. His proposal is for a voyage of discovery to the Pacific and Southern Oceans.

Correspondence

Reynolds, Jeremiah. [with Hon. Mahlon Dickerson, Secretary of the Navy.] New York, 1838.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A vicious attack on Dickerson for impeding the preparation and dispatch of the US Exploring Expedition [Wilkes], even though it had been approved by Congress, partly through Reynolds’ efforts.

Pacific and Indian Oceans; or the South Sea Surveying and Exploring Expedition.

Reynolds, Jeremiah N. New York: Harper, 1841.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This volume includes a couple of Reynold’s works commenting on the preparation for the ExEx, from which he was eventually excluded. The volume includes reprints of two works previously published by the author: Address on the subject of a surveying and exploring expedition to the Pacific Ocean and South seas -- New York, 1836, and, Exploring expedition. Correspondance between J. N. Reynolds and the Hon. Mahlon Dickerson, under the respective signatures of "Citizen" and "Friend to the navy", touching the South sea surveying and exploring expedition -- [New York, 1838?] He never went to the Antarctic but his comments in preparation have peculiar interest.

The Private Journal of William Reynolds; United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842.

Reynolds, William. London: Penguin Books, 2004.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A healthy selection of Reynolds journals which includes his official account together with his own interpolations correcting that account. A good example is p. 11: “Captain Wilkes is a man of great talent {great mistake, did not at this time know him}, perhaps genius…. He has had much experience with them [various instruments] since, is an excellent astronomer {all in the wrong, all humbug—a little smattering & much boasting on his part deceived others besides myself}, & well acquainted with the mysteries of chemistry & the operations of natural philosophy.”

The Wilkes Expedition: Tthe First United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842).

Tyler, David B. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1968. (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society Vol. 73).
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. 41, Titian Peale quoted from letter to his daughters about his stateroom: I have a little bed over and under which is packed clothes, furs, guns, Books and boxes without number, all of which have to be tied to keep them from rolling and tumbling about, and kept off the floor as it is sometimes covered with water.