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K.Y. Anderson

Historian - Author - Adventurer

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American Zeal

The U.S. Exploring Expedition 1838-1842, commanded by LT Charles Wilkes, USN.

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About

K. Y. Anderson

K.Y., or Kris, a fourth-generation Washingtonian, lives with her husband and son on the shores of Dyes Inlet (named by the US Ex Ex), which she enjoys kayaking in on sunny days and strolling along in less favorable weather.

During her senior year at Linfield University, she interned for the Smithsonian Institution's Magnificent Voyagers: The U.S. Exploring Expedition 1838-1842 (Wilkes Expedition).

After retiring from corporate life and starting a successful commercial meadery a few decades later, she resumed her zeal in this expedition.

In addition to researching and writing, she volunteers with the Navy League and other groups and enjoys immersion research, such as visiting the locations Expedition members explored in person.

Publications

KWG Book

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American Zeal

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Columbia Zeal

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My Books

KWG

Porposie and Flying Fish - 98-089-fz1 Agate 1840_edited.jpg

Images

US Ex Ex Images

Maderia

Corcovado - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Two bold young officers sought to summit icon peak. Heading west, the two heard “songs of birds & murmuring of the falling water making sweet music to our ears.” After a leisurely hike, they reached the peak, more than two thousand feet above the harbor. From there, they viewed “a panorama the glorious magnificence of which is not in the power of the mind to conceive or the tongue to tell,” as one wrote.

Pilot's House, Rio Negro, present-day Argentina

From the Brazilian capital, the squadron of five ships continued south. When they stopped at the Rio Negro, in present-day Argentina, local residents initially mistook them for an invading French force. Learning their visitors were Americans, they gladly welcomed them. Later Expedition members explored the area and evaluated its potential commercial value, which they assessed as low.

Fleet in Orange Harbor

Peruvian Andres

Traveling east, Expedition members crested the Andes. The hillsides appeared so steep that they could not “conceive why the cattle that were feeding on their sides did not fall off,” (p. 88).

Lima by Peale?

Native Throwing the Boomerang

A boomerang became a lethal weapon in the hands of a New Hollander. However, in the hands of an unskilled person, like an American sailor, a boomerang could result in serious injury.

New Hollander Boomerang

Boomerang, collected by US Ex Ex
Source: Smithsonian

View of the Antartica Continent by Wilkes

Peacock on Ice

Relief at Noir Island

"The storm raged with a vengeance. "Never had we seen it blow so hard," he wrote. A sailor with forty-five-years at sea told one of the civilian scientists that he “had never seen such riding.”

Tanoa's Canoe

Tanoa, King of Bau/Bua ??

Fijian War Club Dance by J. Drayton

[Fijian] music makers led the way for the precision dancers who advanced at a slow, measured pace. All one hundred were dressed in ceremonial attire, with flower and vine wreaths atop the chiefs’ heads. As they reached the town center, the lines changed order and they moved their war clubs in prescribed directions. The dancers stomped violently in time with the music as they progressed forward.

Fijian Mask

[Battle of] Malolo by A.G. Agata

One officer wrote in his journal, “the scene was grand and beautiful and at the same time horrible what with the volley of musketry, the crackling of the flames, and the squealing of the pigs.” He recalled the villagers’ shouts creating a deafening sound over which one heard, “the loud cheers of our men with ‘There they go,’ ‘Down with them,’ ‘Shoot that fellow,’ etc., etc.” He claimed his shotgun became too hot to touch the barrel.

Fijian War Clubs collected by the US Ex Ex Source: Smithsonian Institution

At tthe completion of the dance, each warrior presented a war club to their group of visiting Americans.

Vendovi

Modern-Day
Crossing the Line Ceremony

Present-Day Photos

Princeton Explosion

Princeton Gun at Annapolis

Cmdr (ret) Dean and Cathleen Smith stand next to the remaining long run from the infamous Princeton explosion, which is taught to midshipman at the Naval Academy.

Wilkes' home on Lafayette Square

Originally built by Dolley Madison, it present-day houses US District Court of Appeals ???

Wilkes House Plaque

US Ex Ex observatory marker; present-day Dupont, Washington

Nancy Keller-Schultz (summer of 2020) at the marker that denotes the location the US Ex Ex built their observatory in 1841 on Puget Sound, located in a restricted section of the Home (golf) Course in DuPont, Washington.

US Ex Ex observatory marker; present-day Dupont, Washington

Observatory Plaque

Placed by the DuPont chemical company

Reviews

"These are not dry textbooks. Rather, they are meticulously researched stories about a little-known American expedition, relating our history in a refreshing, modern-day voice. The scope of the expedition’s travels, the hazards encountered, and its accomplishments left me in awe.”

Paul Hathway,

Grand Junction, CO

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K.Y. Anderson
Historian - Author - Adventurer

Site is still under construction

K.Y. Anderson

Historian - Author - Adventurer

Join our mailing list

Coming soon

American Zeal

The U.S. Exploring Expedition 1838-1842, commanded by LT Charles Wilkes, USN.

K. Y. Anderson

Publications

Images

US Ex Ex Images

Modern-Day
Crossing the Line Ceremony

Present-Day Photos

Reviews

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Site is still under construction

K.Y. Anderson

Historian - Author - Adventurer

Join our mailing list

Coming soon

American Zeal

The U.S. Exploring Expedition 1838-1842, commanded by LT Charles Wilkes, USN.

K. Y. Anderson

Publications

Images

US Ex Ex Images

Modern-Day Crossing the Line Ceremony

Present-Day Photos

Reviews

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Modern-Day
Crossing the Line Ceremony