What does “U.S. Ex. Ex.” stand for?

The term “U.S. Ex. Ex.” (or simply “Ex. Ex.”) is shorthand for “U.S. Exploring Expedition.” This 1838-1842 expedition also became known as the Wilkes Expedition—after Lieutenant Charles Wilkes (1798-1877), who was the commander of this great voyage that included the exploration of  the treacherous Cape Horn area, regions south of the Antarctic Convergence, the Great South Sea, the Midway Islands, the Sulu Sea, the Oregon Territory with the dangerous Columbia River Bar and many other places of marine and scientific interest. The six-vessel expedition was a detour-driven circumnavigation of the globe. The vessels were the flagship Vincennes, the schooners Sea Gull and Flying Fish, the sloop-of-war Peacock, the brig Porpoise and the storeship Relief. Not all of them completed the circumnavigation [1-4]. 

For a long time, the achievements of the Wilkes Expedition were mostly dismissed—both in the U.S. and worldwide. The expedition's reputation suffered from the human drama that happened between captain and crew as well as between crew and native islanders—such as the deadly encounters on the Fiji Islands where an armed conflict resulted in the death of dozens of natives and the expedition lost Lieutenant Joseph Underwood and Henry Wilkes (Charles Wilkes's nephew). Also, there was an ongoing dispute over who first saw what in the Antarctic Ocean and who found a new continent.

Opening a modern world atlas and scanning the map of Antarctica, you will find Wilkes Land where the South Indian Ocean meets the Earth's southernmost continent. Nathaniel Philbrick summarizes how Wilkes Land got on the map (page 362 in [4]):

With the exception of the Expedition's own charts, no British or American maps referred to Wilkes's findings throughout the 1860s. If it hadn't been for German mapmakers, who were the only ones to record the American claims and adopted the name of Wilkes Land, all trace of Wilkes's achievement might have been lost.

Retrospectively, “U.S. Ex. Ex.” stands for the exploration of watery and icy wilderness, at a time when America's frontier mainly was the sea—less than a decade before the gold rush, when the American West became the new (or yet another) frontier.

“Ex. Ex.” also stands for groundbreaking scientific research and for amassing a global collection of specimens and new species that brought the Smithsonian Institution to life.
 

Keywords: American history, maritime history, naval operation, sea exploration.

References and more to explore

[1] Nathaniel Philbrick: Learn More About The U.S. Exploring Expedition. Smithsonian Libraries. Link: www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/usexex/learn/Philbrick.htm.

[2] United States South Seas Exploring Expedition (aka the Wilkes Expedition), 1838-1842. Harvard University Library Open Collections Program. Link: ocp.hul.harvard.edu/expeditions/wilkes.html.

[3] Charles Wilkes (1798-1877).  south-pole. com. Link: www.south-pole.com/p0000079.htm. 

[4] Nathaniel Philbrick: Sea of Glory. America's Voyage of Discovery. Penguin Books, New York, 2004.