OldPoltroon's Reviews > Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842

As a work of naval history, I prefer In the Heart of the Sea, but as a study of the effects of deep-seated psychological defects on leadership, Sea of Glory is a fascinating study. I struggle with Lt. Charles Wilkes, commander of the U.S Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842, charged with mapping previously unexplored portions of Antarctica, Polynesia, and the Pacific Northwest. He's a man beset by his own demons. But to his credit, Philbrick gives us a nuanced portrait of a man out of his depth, but with the will to succeed (or at least the imagination to tell himself a story about his own personal greatness). Wilkes is alternately pitiable, vicious, loving, poisonous, quick-witted, daring, cowardly, tyrannical, bitter, feckless, wildly irrational, stupid, and vexing - he was also probably the driving force behind much of the expedition's success and enduring contribution to science and exploration despite his own best efforts to alienate himself and torpedo the expedition, time and again.

In some ways, the commander of the U.S. Exploring Expedition seemed doomed to failure right from the start. One wonders how things might have been different if Jackson or his Secretary of the Navy had the wisdom (or at least the charity) to convey upon Wilkes the one thing that might have buttressed his self-confidence before he left New York in 1838 - an acting captain's appointment - a station Wilkes thought he'd been promised as part of accepting command of a mission that no other captain in the U.S. Navy wanted. Throughtout the book, issues of rank poison Wilkes' mind and jeopardize the mission. He fairly torchers his officers, goading his senior Lieutenants for no other reason Philbrick assures us, than Wilkes' own debilitating insecurities and resentment a not having received a captain's commission.

But despite the unqualified loopiness of many of his antics, Wilkes is a character I each of us can recognize if we look hard enough. Here's a man thrust into a position that he has neither the wisdom, experience, or maturity to orchestrate - and with nowhere else to turn, he builds a wall around his insecurities and sense of inadequacy. And in the process disenfranchises his crew, turns trusted offices into bitter enemies, and nearly gets everyone killed - more than once. There's something undeniably human in Philbrick's portrayal of this man and I walked away from this book, I'm ashamed to say, finding something of myself in Wilkes. I think to those who want to look, we all might find something of ourselves in him. It's not a ringing endoursement of the soaring heights the human spirit can reach - but it is comforting to note that despite these perceived weaknesses we can each overcome. The U.S. Exploring Expedition turned out to be a success, after all, and Charles Wilkes - despite his profund personal defects - deserves much of the credit. When I think about it, I'm not sure what ultimate message we might conclude when thinking about Wilkes.