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Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 Hardcover – November 10, 2003

by Nathaniel Philbrick (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,036 ratings
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Traces the 1838 discovery voyage that resulted in the western world's survey of 87,000 ocean miles, 280 Pacific islands, numerous zoological discoveries, and the finding of Antarctica; a journey that was marked by tragic deaths, the losses of two ships, and controversial court martials. 250,000 first printing.
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  1. Print length
    480 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Viking
  4. Publication date
    November 10, 2003
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    7.25 x 1.75 x 9.25 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    067003231X
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0670032310
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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The expeditions of Magellan, Columbus, and Lewis and Clark have been well documented and are instantly familiar to anyone with even a passing interest in world history. But the average person is likely unaware of the U.S. Exploring Expedition or its mercurial leader, Charles Wilkes. This despite the numerous accomplishments and lasting legacy of the massive four-year project that involved six ships and hundreds of men. The "Ex. Ex.," as it came to be known, is credited with the discovery of Antarctica, the first accurate charting of what is now Oregon and Washington, the retrieval of thousands of new species of life, and the foundation of the Smithsonian Institution. Yet when Wilkes returned, instead of being hailed as a great man of science or a national hero, he was shunned by the President, ignored by the press, and was the subject of so much ill will on the part of his men that he was ultimately put on trial for a variety of offenses. In the portrayal presented in Nathaniel Philbrick's Sea of Glory, Wilkes is a passionate man, brash and enthusiastic, driven by seemingly impossible goals, many of which he actually accomplished. But he's also a petty, mean-spirited loner, egotistical enough to unilaterally give himself a promotion in the middle of the expedition. Without Wilkes' singularity of purpose, it's hard to imagine the mission being as successful as it was, but it's also hard to conceive a personality more poorly suited to leadership than the near-universally-despised Wilkes. Philbrick also skillfully reveals the insecurity behind the tyranny in excerpts from letters to Wilkes' wife, Jane. The accounts of the expedition's adventures are at various times exhilarating and tragic as the crew scales the volcanoes of Hawaii, becomes involved in a bloody war with Fijian natives, and struggles merely to stay alive while at the same time not killing Wilkes. Philbrick's compelling narrative and meticulous research provide a vivid picture of the triumphs and hardships of the exploration age. --John Moe

From Publishers Weekly

After chronicling the sinking of the whaleship Essex in In the Heart of the Sea, Philbrick attempts to rescue from obscurity the U.S. Exploring Expedition's 1838-1842 circumnavigation of the world and its cartographic and scientific accomplishments. With a strong narrative pull but an anticlimactic story arc, he chronicles the six-vessel squadron's Pacific escapades. Instead of a grisly page-turner, however, Philbrick follows his bestselling tragedy with a drawn-out success story. More than a tale of the Ex. Ex's journey, the book also profiles the expedition's egomaniacal commander, Lt. Charles Wilkes; the psychological warfare he waged against his officers; and the near-miraculous survival of the squadron despite Wilkes's perverse leadership and lack of nautical experience. Wilkes was, however, an accomplished surveyor, and the Ex. Ex. mapped hundreds of Pacific islands, 800 miles of the Oregon coast, 100 miles of the Columbia River and 1,500 miles of Antarctic coast. The expedition's scientists made groundbreaking contributions in ethnography, biology and geology (their collections formed the basis of the Smithsonian Institution). Particularly noteworthy among Philbrick's gripping passages are his descriptions of brash navigation in the Antarctic-but too much of the book bogs down in Wilkes's petty politicking, as he degraded talented men and promoted incompetent ones so as not to be outshone. After four years at sea, he had alienated nearly every officer and returned home to a court-martial. "Instead of a thrilling tale of discovery and incredible achievement, [America] heard more about the flawed personality of the Expedition's commander than anyone wanted to know," Philbrick writes of Wilkes's 1842 trial, in which he was acquitted. Unfortunately, this spoils the retelling, too. Maps not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking; First Edition (November 10, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 067003231X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0670032310
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.8 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 1.75 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,036 ratings

About the author

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Nathaniel Philbrick

Nathaniel Philbrick

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Nathaniel Philbrick

Life at a Glance

Born

1956 in Boston, Mass.

Educated

Linden Elementary School and Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, Pa.; BA in English from Brown University in Providence, RI, and an MA in America Literature from Duke University in Durham, NC

Sailing

Philbrick was Brown's first Intercollegiate All-American sailor in 1978; that year he won the Sunfish North Americans in Barrington, RI; today he and his wife Melissa sail their Beetle Cat Clio and their Tiffany Jane 34 Marie-J in the waters surrounding Nantucket Island.

Married

Melissa Douthart Philbrick, who is an attorney on Nantucket. They have two children: Jennie, 23, and Ethan 20.

Career

After grad school, Philbrick worked for four years at Sailing World magazine; was a freelancer for a number of years, during which time he wrote/edited several sailing books, including Yaahting: A Parody (1984), for which he was the editor-in-chief; during this time he was also the primary caregiver for his two children. After moving to Nantucket in 1986, he became interested in the history of the island and wrote Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People. He was offered the opportunity to start the Egan Maritime Foundation in 1995, and in 2000 he published In the Heart of the Sea, followed by Sea of Glory, in 2003, and Mayflower, due in May 2006.

Awards and Honors

In the Heart of the Sea won the National Book Award for nonfiction; Revenge of the Whale won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; Sea of Glory won the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize and the Albion-Monroe Award from the National Maritime Historical Society. Philbrick has also received the Byrne Waterman Award from the Kendall Whaling Museum, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for distinguished service from the USS Constitution Museum, the Nathaniel Bowditch Award from the American Merchant Marine Museum, and the William Bradford Award from the Pilgrim Society.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,036 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jared M
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant work by Philbrick
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2004
Verified Purchase
It was a review of this book in the National Geographic Adventure magazine which first caught my eye, and prompted me to purchase Philbrick's excellent narrative of the US Exploring Expedition. The Expedition sailed from Norfolk, USA, carrying the scientific and exploratory hopes of the United States on a trip to South America, Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and Asia that encompasses nearly 5 years. Over 500 men, in 6 ships left in 1838, to return in 1842, much reduced in number, but with enough scientific specimens (over 4000) to form a large portion of the Smithsonian collection. Commanded by Lieutenant Wilkes, the story of the US Ex. Ex has largely been forgotten, but Philbrick has produced a book which hopefully will bring to the forefront the achievements of the US Ex. Ex and its' men.
"Sea of Glory" is truly a spectacular rendition of events, as Philbrick portrays the deterioration of the relationship between Commander and his men, while journeying through some of most inhospitable seas in the world. Wilkes comes across as a near megalomaniac and odious character (almost immediately after beginning the expedition, he promoted himself Captain!), belittling the achievements of his underlings and inflating his own. It is a miracle that he was succeeded in bringing the expedition home largely unscathed. Nor does the story end there. The final chapters reveal the trials and tribulations of Wilkes (and other members of the expedition) as he realizes that he may be held accountable for his actions. Upon return of the expedition, there were no fewer than 5 court martials involving Wilkes and officers of the vessels comprising the expedition, largely petty incidents raised by Wilkes as revenge for perceived slights by the officers.
Philbrick writes extremely well, in a very fluid and easy manner, and it takes little effort to read. Large portions of the book are based upon the journal of Midshipman Reynolds, once an ardent admirer of his commander but by the conclusion of the expedition despising him. Philbrick superbly brings this out, contrasting parts of the journal from early on in the voyage to sections of the journal written much later, the journal's author much jaded and embittered by the actions of his commander. But Philbrick does not focus only on Wilkes; the achievements of the expedition are also discussed, and the sometimes incredibly imposing situations the expedition faces, such as the attack by natives on the expedition in the Fiji Islands which resulted in the death of Wilkes' nephew. A book of this type benefits from having illustrations and maps, and on neither account does it fail. There are a number of maps produced in the book, although I have to say the main map (in the preface), which traces the voyage of the expedition throughout the 5 years it spent abroad, is a little hard to follow due to the back and forth nature of parts of the expedition, and also when the expedition split up for short periods of time. There are two sections of very nice illustrations which show the main characters involved and some events that occurred.
"Sea of Glory" is a true story that ranks alongside the best of adventure books, and I cannot recommend this book highly enough. A worthy addition to the library.
16 people found this helpful
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Graybeard
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2013
Verified Purchase
This is the story of Charles Wilkes, a talented, driven, hard-working yet unseasoned naval officer who was put in charge of the United States Exploring Expedition ("U.S. Ex-Ex"), an expedition whose mission it was to explore, map, and bring back artifacts from the Pacific. A motley collection of 6 refitted ships made up the expedition's fleet. Starting out from the East Coast of the U.S., they initially did some exploring and artifact-gathering in the Atlantic -- in Madeira, Cape Verde and South America. Together, and at times separately, the expedition's ships went on to explore the southern tip of South America, part of Antarctica's periphery, Fiji, Hawaii, various other islands in Polynesia, and the U.S. Pacific Northwest. After finishing up in the Pacific Northwest, the expedition headed back to Hawaii, then sailed on to the Philippines, Borneo and Singapore, then rounded the Cape of Good Hope and sailed back home to New York. The expedition lasted 4 years, from 1838 to 1842. The expedition's haul of artifacts, and plant and animal specimens was huge. A need to store them and make them available for public viewing helped to drive the founding of the Smithsonian Institution. The expedition also made many maps, some of which still were used by the U.S. military as recently as World War II.

The main theme of "Sea of Glory," however, are the expedition's trials and tribulations -- in particular, those brought about by the expedition's commander, Lt. Charles Wilkes, who, although talented and hard-working, was handicapped by blinding ambition, insufficient leadership skills, and insufficient people skills in general. A large part of the book chronicles incidents brought about or aggravated by Wilkes' inner demons. Imagine the worst boss you've ever had. That's Wilkes, times 10.

One of the book's more memorable parts is its descriptions of the iceberg fields in Antarctic waters that the expedition encountered and had to cautiously navigate through. Another memorable part of the book is its description of two battles that took place on the island of Malolo, in Fiji. In the first battle, two members of the expedition were killed on the beach in an attack launched by the Fijians. One of those killed was Wilkes' nephew. The second battle, launched by the Americans in retaliation for the Fijians' initial attack, was at a Fijian fortress in the interior of the island. Approximately 80 Fijians' were killed in that battle. There was also a smaller, swift skirmish that day on boats in the water.

There are some interesting tidbits in the book, including the expedition's discovery of an American and another outsider on Fiji, whom the expedition initially mistook for Fijians on account of their having embraced the culture and blended in with the people there. Another intriguing character in the book is "Oahu Jack," a native Hawaiian who joined the expedition as a navigator and interpreter in the expedition's initial visit to Hawaii. Were the Hawaiian and Fijian languages at that point in time close enough so that speakers of one could understand speakers of the other, or did Oahu Jack know Fijian or some other language that was close enough to Fijian so that he could communicate with Fijians? The book doesn't say. It piques one's curiosity.

The audiobook version of the book, which I am reviewing here, is an abridgment of the printed edition. I wish the audiobook version were unabridged, as I have many unanswered questions about the expedition that I am guessing are answered in the print edition.

This is an interesting book that I would love to see made into a movie for the big screen.
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Robert Seidenberg
5.0 out of 5 stars Great historical lesson.
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2016
Verified Purchase
A wonderful book about a subject that has certainly been long forgotten. There is no doubt about the failures and arguments that took place during this expedition, but the story of Lt. Charles Wilkes is something everyone who has been in the military (as was I) was thoroughly drilled about, and that was: Rank has its privileges. The organization of this expedition certainly also was in question, as to why it was originally advertised as the "Pacific region", and then expanded to Antarctica. The book was certainly very well researched, and a colorful picture of what must have taken place. It's not an easy book to get quickly digested, but once you get hooked, it does keep ones interest going. I particularly enjoyed the description of the rediscovery of the Hawaiian islands, since I have been there many times. Of course with modern transportation available today, I can't imagine how the expedition ever got around, yet to the top of Mauna Loa. Lots of interesting facts in this book that I certainly did not know about. A good lesson in American history.
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