Chart of the World shewing the tracks of the U.S. Exploring Expedition in 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842.

• Main Author: Wilkes, Charles
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Philadelphia: Printed by C. Sherman. 1844
• Subjects: United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842); Antarctica > Discovery and Exploration; Oregon > Description and Travel; Hawaii > Description and Travel; South America > Description and Travel; Wilkes; Charles; 1798-1877; Pacific; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://cdm16118.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/p16118coll2,79

This map shows the tracks of the vessels of the Exploring Squadron, combined, and acting separately: the direction of the winds; the currents, their direction and velocity; the isothermal lines for every five degrees of temperature, from the point of perpetual congelation to the Torrid Zone. These maps come from an atlas created by the United State Exploring Expedition 1838-1842 led by Charles Wilkes. The expedition explored the west coast of the United States and lands in the Pacific Ocean. The Federal government sponsored the expedition in order to fully understand (and claim) Pacific lands and trade opportunities. Wilkes was accompanied by a hand-picked group of scientists, artists, and cartographers. Upon his return to Washington, D.C. he spent the next 30 years writing and editing the massive reports of the expedition. Men who had traveled with Wilkes on the �Ex Ex� along with scientists, artists, engravers, publishers and printers at home all worked on the landmark publication. The narrative written by Wilkes himself (in five volumes with an atlas) and the subsequent special subject volumes with their atlases took 30 years to produce and some volumes were never published. 15.55 x 21.63 in Master images photographed at 300 ppi, 24 bit color, and saved as TIFF files. Adobe Photoshop used to convert to JPEG format. Master file size: 90,853,732 bytes.