Twenty Years Before the Mast

1896

Hocken Library: G420.E77 E77

Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs

Between 1838 and 1842, the ‘U.S. Ex. Ex’ visited 280 islands in the Pacific. Given that there was a full complement of naturalists, mineralogists, botanists, horticulturalists, taxidermists, and draughtsmen on board, a staggering amount of data and specimens was collected, including 60,000 plant and bird specimens, the seeds of 648 species, and 254 live plants. Many of the species and other items found by the expedition helped form the basis of collections at the new Smithsonian Institution. Erskine was a crew member on the Porpoise, later transferring to the Vincennes. These are his informal reminiscences of that journey.