(Panama Canal) | The ill-fated expedition exploring a route to the Pacific

Property from the Wolf Family Collection

(Panama Canal)

Correspondence of the Darien Expedition

Ledger copy of all Letters, Reports, Memoranda and Orders originating with Lt. Cmdr. Selfridge, who led the Expedition, from Dec. 31st, 1869 to Dec. 20th, 1870. Also, the Expenses and Disbursements for the Expedition from Jan. 1870 to April 18.

Small folio ledger (310 x 190 mm). Original quarter calf and marbled boards with elaborate manuscript cover label; spine worn, a bit scuffed. 

The ill-fated expedition exploring a route to the Pacific

The present is likely Lt. Cmdr. Selfridge’s copy of his correspondence, kept by the ship’s yeomen. 

A short route between the Atlantic and Pacific had long been a goal for all the major powers. Hoping to find a suitable location for a ship canal linking the two, Selfridge was ordered by the Navy Department to explore and survey the Isthmus of Darien. The project was beset by problems from the start, not the least of which seemed to be the Navy's bureaucracy and lethargy in actually equipping the expedition. 

Informed that much of the required provisions and stores would need to be purchased on the open market, rather than directly supplied by the government, Sullivan is forced to ask repeatedly for official permission to do so. 

Seeing the need have some military presence to protect the expedition, Sullivan expects confirmation, again slow to arrive: "I have received no information from the Department what vessel of the Pacific fleet has been ordered to co-operate with the expedition or at what time she may be expected at Panama." 

The danger represented by the local indigenous populations of the interior was certainly on the Lt. Commander's mind from the beginning, as he writes to the Secretary of the Navy on 18 February, 1870: " The success of the expedition depends upon maintaining friendly relations with these Indians and I shall exhaust every means to this end. But if they compel me to hostilities by an armed opposition, I shall not cease till every village and coca-nut tree between Caledonia Bay and San Blas is destroyed."

The terrain and tropical jungle also proved more difficult than expected and allegations of spying by local merchants while guests of the captain also arose and needed to be addressed. 

A fascinating account, with far more details than were included in the official report, published in 1874 (House, Misc. Doc. 113) with the maps and illustrations.