USS Sea Gull ( 1838 ) USS " Sea Gull " was a schooner in the service of the United States Navy . The " Sea Gull " was one of six ships that sailed in the US Exploring Expedition ( known as the US Ex . Ex . ) in 1838 to survey the coast of the then - unknown continent of Antarctica and the Pacific Islands . The specimens collected on the voyage would later form the backbone of the Smithsonian Institution . Acquisition . Formerly the New York pilot boat " New Jersey " , the ship was purchased by the Navy in July 1838 and renamed USS " Sea Gull " . She was outfitted with a new mast and sails in three days ' time , and under the command of Passed Midshipman James W . E . Reid , sailed for Hampton Roads to join the expedition as a tender . The US Exploring Expedition . At Norfolk , Virginia the " Sea Gull " joined the other ships of the expedition : flagship , , , the schooner , and the supply ship . The ships left Norfolk on August 18 , 1838 , for the tip of South America , where they would await the slower " Relief " and then continue to Antarctica and the Pacific Islands . After surveying and collecting specimens , the remaining ships would sail to Hawaii and then the Columbia River to survey that area then return to the United States via the Cape of Good Hope on June 9 , 1842 . The " Sea Gull " , commanded by Lieutenant Robert Johnson and in the company of the " Porpoise " , headed south from Orange Bay on the tip of South America on February 25 , 1839 , to explore the area of the South Shetland Islands . Both ships encountered heavy seas which resulted in a broken gaff for the " Sea Gull " ; the crew was constantly drenched by huge waves . Soon they encountered snow squalls and penguins . Huge icebergs were sighted , some said to be as large as the U . S . Capitol building . On March 1 , some islands of the South Shetlands were sighted . Attempts were made to land on the islands and gather specimens but the seas proved too rough to make a landing . On March 5 , the wind increased to a whole gale and the commander of the expedition — Lt . Charles Wilkes — ordered the ships about and headed north . Wilkes ordered Johnson to proceed back to Orange Bay after stopping at Deception Island to attempt to retrieve a self - reading thermometer left there by an earlier British expedition . After removing ice from the ship ' s rigging , the crew of the " Sea Gull " headed for Deception . The crew didn ' t find the thermometer but did experience the volcanism of the island finding it frightening and unnerving to know they were standing on an active volcano . Eventually the ship made its way to Orange Bay . After reaching Orange Bay the " Sea Gull " participated in a search for a missing crew in a survey launch , finding the launch eventually safe and sound with all aboard . Loss of the " Sea Gull " . On April 17 , 1839 , Wilkes left Orange Bay in " Vincennes " with " Porpoise " for Valparaíso , Chile and ordered the schooners " Flying Fish " and " Sea Gull " to wait ten days for the supply ship " Relief " . If the " Relief " didn ' t arrive they were to transport the scientists aboard to Valparaíso . On May 19 , the " Flying Fish " arrived in Valparaíso and the " Sea Gull " was nowhere in sight . The " Sea Gull " , under the command of passed midshipman James Reid , was last seen waiting out a gale in the lee of Staten Island off Cape Horn . After a month or so , the officers of the Ex . Ex . assumed the " Sea Gull " was lost and took up a collection for a monument to their memory . That monument stands in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge , Massachusetts . It lists the names of the officers who were lost on the " Sea Gull " and the names of two officers who were killed during the survey of the Pacific Islands . No mention was made of the other 24 sailors and marines who died during the expedition .