WILKES, %silks, Charles, American naval officer and explorer: b. New York, 1798; d. Washington, 8 Feb. 1877. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1818, served on the Medi terranean Station in 1819-20, in the Pacific 1821-23 and was then selected for separate com mand. In 1826 he was promoted lieutenant, and in 1830 was appointed to take charge of the government charts and instruments. In 1838 he was put in command of an expedition for ex ploring and surveying the Southern seas, the first scientific expedition ever fitted out by the United States government. During the next five years the expedition visited Madeira, Rio de Janeiro, Tierra del Fuego, Chile, Peru, the Paurnota group, Tahiti, Tutuila and the Sa moan group, New South Wales, the Antarctic regions, New Zealand, the Fiji group, the Sand wkh (Hawaiian) Islands, the Columbia River, Willamette Valley, the coast of California, the Philippine Islands, Sulu Archipelago, Saint Hel ena, Singapore and the Polynesian Islands. The results of the expedition were published in 19 volumes, those on 'Hydrography' and 'Mete orology' being written by Wilkes himself. who
also wrote the 'Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition' (1845). Wilkes claimed to have discovered an Antarctic continent, but the claim was long disputed. Shackieton's re cent discoveries tend to prove the accuracy of Wilkes' announcement. In 1843 he was made commander, in 1855 a captain, and at the be ginning of the Civil War in 1861 was placed in command of the Sao Jacinto, in which he went to the West Indies in search of the Confederate vessel .Swelter. On 8 November of that year he took the Confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell Irons the British mail steamer Trent. (See Taster AFFAIR, Tat). In 1862 Wilkes was in command of the Potomac flotilla and afterward of the flying squadron that operated against blockade-runners. In July 1862 he was promoted commodore, in 1864 was placed on the retired list, and thereon in July 1866 be came rear-admiral. Besides those above men tioned his publications are 'Western America, Including California and Oregon' (1849); and 'The Theory of the Wind' (1855).