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  • Navigating
    at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigating Without a Clock
    • The Longitude Problem
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating
    in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
    • Navigation at War
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating
    in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation
    for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition

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Time and Navigation
The untold story of getting from here to there.
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  • Navigating at Sea
  • Navigating in the Air
  • Navigating in Space
  • Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research Journal
  • Visit the Exhibition
  • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigation Gone Wrong: A British Fleet is Lost at Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating Without a Clock
    • Early Voyages
    • Dead Reckoning
    • Celestial Navigation
  • The Longitude Problem
    • Cash for Creativity
    • Early Sea Clock Experiments
    • Innovations in England
    • Innovations in France
    • The Chronometer
    • Observing the Skies
    • Navigation Gone Wrong: Wreck of the Arniston
  • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Early Contributions
      • Meet the Clockmaker: William Cranch Bond
      • Meet the Navigator: Eleanor Creesy
    • Wilkes Expedition
      • Meet the Mapmaker: Charles Wilkes
      • Maps and Charts
      • The "Scientifics"
  • Navigate at Sea! Activity

Explore More

Black-faced Coucal and Long-tailed Cuckoo »
Parrots »
Ship Model of USS Porpoise »
Latitude and Longitude »
"Dutch vessels burning the English fleet" »

Maps and Charts

In four years, the expedition effectively remapped the Pacific Ocean.

Wilkes and his crew made the most of the accuracy of their navigational instruments. Their observations resulted in some of the most accurate charts and maps of the time. The United States used these invaluable charts and maps as late as the Pacific campaign during World War II.

Antarctica

The existence of an Antarctic continent had long been rumored but remained unconfirmed. During the 1760s, Captain James Cook reached the Antarctic Circle but found only icebergs. Credit for substantiating Antarctica is divided. Two expedition members, William Reynolds and Henry Eld, sighted land the same day as French explorer Jules Dumont d‘Urville. Wilkes surveyed 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) of Antarctic coastline, an area still known as “Wilkes Land.”

The Columbia River and The Northwest Coast

Despite losing one of the largest ships along Oregon’s treacherous coastline, the expedition completed the first American survey of the Columbia River and charted areas along the Northwest coast never before explored by Americans or Europeans.

Fiji and the South Pacific

The shoals of the South Pacific, especially around Fiji, were highly valuable to whalers but extremely dangerous to ships due to their shallow depths and jagged reefs. Accurate charts of the South Seas were incomplete. Shipwrecks were common. For the American whaling industry, mapping this area was the expedition’s most useful achievement.

wilkes-map-routes-39088007592942.jpg

The Ex. Ex. Remaps the World
This map depicts their route and includes eyewitness accounts from crew members who had to navigate through unfamiliar seas and lands.
Credit: Smithsonian Institution Libraries

240-sil19-06-016.jpg

Map of the Coast of Antarctica
Map produced by the U.S. Exploring Expedition
Credit: Smithsonian Institution Libraries

240-sil19-06-018.jpg

Map of the Oregon Territory
Map produced by the U.S. Exploring Expedition
Credit: Smithsonian Institution Libraries

240-sil19-06-017.jpg

Map of Fiji and the South Pacific
Map produced by the U.S. Exploring Expedition.
Credit: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
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  • Navigating at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigating Without a Clock
    • The Longitude Problem
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
      • Early Contributions
      • Wilkes Expedition
        • Meet the Mapmaker: Charles Wilkes
        • Maps and Charts
        • The "Scientifics"
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
    • Navigation at War
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition
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  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Sponsors
  • Press
  • Donate
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