The Great Albatross Philippine Expedition and Its Fishes

The Great Albatross Philippine Expedition and Its Fishes DAVID G. SMITH and JEFFREY T. WILLIAMS Genesis of the Expedition lands in the Caribbean and, on the op sympathy was strongly on the side of posite side of the earth, the Philippines. the Cuban rebels. Each new report of The year 1997 marked the 90th anni- By 1896, rebellions were raging in the Spanish atrocities raised the pitch of versary of the Albatross Philippine Ex- two biggest and most important col excitement. In January 1898, President pedition, the longest and most extensive onies, Cuba and the Philippines. The William McKinley sent the battleship of the ship’s career. In the history of United States, by contrast, was on the Maine to Havana. This act was a mes American maritime exploration, it was way up. Its defining event of the 19th sage intended as much for Germany second only to the Wilkes Expedition in century, the Civil War, was fading into as for Spain. The United States was terms of time spent and area covered. In memory. The industrial revolution was not about to allow a stronger European terms of the material collected and the in full swing, the frontier was closing, power to replace Spain in the Western pages published, the Philippine Expedi- and the nation’s restless energy was be Hemisphere. Tensions were high, and tion is in a class by itself and stands as ginning to turn outward. on 15 February 1898, a catastrophic one of the greatest of all oceanographic There were two other players in this event set off the spark. At 9:40 p.m. expeditions. That it took place at all is drama. Neither had a speaking role, on a tropical winter evening, the Maine due to powerful political forces that con- but both were waiting just offstage and was blown apart in a colossal explo verged at the turn of the last century. cast a menacing shadow. One was Ger- sion. For a few terrible moments, the As the 19th century drew to a close, many and the other was Japan. Like peaceful harbor was turned into an in the United States and Spain were pass- the United States, they were ascending ferno. Flames and smoke rose high into ing each other going in opposite direc- and ambitious. The impending collapse the air, and the blast broke windows, tions. The Spanish empire was collaps- of imperial Spain threatened a power put out lights, and sent plaster crashing ing. What had once covered half the vacuum, and the unspoken question of down from the ceilings of buildings all known world was reduced to three is- the day was: who would move in when over town. Altogether, 268 American Spain was inevitably pushed aside? sailors were killed, and any chance for a The authors are with the Division of Fishes, Cuba was of more immediate con- peaceful solution to the crisis vanished MRC-159, National Museum of Natural History, cern to the United States. American (O’Toole, 1984:126). Events spun out Washington, D.C. 20560. of control, and all the dominoes began to fall. War was declared by both Spain and the United States. In the Pacific, Com ABSTRACT—The Philippine Expedition also explored parts of the Dutch East Indies modore George Dewey was ordered to of 1907–10 was the longest and most exten- and areas around Hong Kong and Taiwan. sive assignment of the Albatross’s 39-year The expedition returned great quantities of take his fleet to Manila and engage the career. It came about because the United fish and invertebrate specimens as well as Spanish. The battle resulted in a com States had acquired the Philippines fol- hydrographic and fisheries data; most of plete victory for the United States. In lowing the Spanish-American War of 1898 the material was eventually deposited in the the aftermath, Spain was forced to sell and the bloody Philippine Insurrection of Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum 1899–1902. The purpose of the expedition of Natural History. The fishes were formally the Philippines to the United States. But was to survey and assess the aquatic accessioned into the museum in 1922 and for the Americans, the worst was just resources of the Philippine Islands. Dr. Hugh fell under the care of Barton A. Bean, Assis- beginning. The Filipino rebels had no M. Smith, then Deputy Commissioner of the tant Curator of Fishes, who then recruited intention of simply replacing one colo U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, was the Director of Henry W. Fowler to work up the material. nial master with another. They contin the Expedition. Other scientific participants Fowler completed his studies of the entire were Frederick M. Chamberlain, Lewis Rad- collection, but only part of it was ever ued to resist, and in February 1899, the cliffe, Paul Bartsch, Harry C. Fasset, Clar- published, due in part to the economic United States went to war in the Philip ence Wells, Albert Burrows, Alvin Seale, constraints caused by the Depression. The pines. It has been called the most divi and Roy Chapman Andrews. The expedi- material from the Philippine Expedition sive overseas war in American history tion consisted of a series of cruises, each constituted the largest single accession of 1 beginning and ending in Manila and explor- fishes ever received by the museum. These until Vietnam. It raged for nearly 3 /2 ing a different part of the island group. In specimens are in good condition today and years and involved 70,000 American addition to the Philippines proper, the ship are still being used in scientific research. soldiers, 7,000 of whom were killed or 61(4), 1999 31 Figure 1.—Hugh McCormick Smith, Figure 2.—Frederick Morton Cham Figure 3.—Paul Bartsch, representa Director of the Albatross Philippine berlain, Resident Naturalist of the Alba tive of the Smithsonian Institution on Expedition. tross during the Philippine Expedition. the Philippine Expedition. wounded. Filipino casualties were even ao to scraps of rock barely awash at high On 16 October 1907, the ship left greater. An estimated 16,000–20,000 tide. The ecological diversity is equally San Francisco on her way to Manila. It Filipino guerillas were killed. Civilian great: rocky shores, coral reefs, man would be 21/2 years before she passed casualties, both direct and indirect, may groves, estuaries, deep ocean basins, under the Golden Gate again. Bartsch never be known, but estimates range and freshwater lakes and rivers. There recorded the scene in his journal: from 200,000 to as high as 500,000 was probably not another vessel in the (O’Toole, 1984:395). The war spawned world better suited for the work, and, in “There is scarcely any indication a protest movement at home that would spite of her age (25 years), she was sent of a breeze this morning, and the be unmatched until Vietnam. The Phil out on an expedition that would keep swells are scarcely broken by a ippines did not come cheaply. her away from home for 21/2 years. ripple. The sun is struggling brave The director of the expedition was ly to disperse the fog which ob The Expedition Hugh McCormick Smith (Fig. 1), then scures the greater front of the shore American power ultimately prevailed, deputy commissioner of the Bureau of line of the bay. Numerous mer and the war was declared over on 4 Fisheries. To Smith fell the task of or chant ships and smaller craft crowd July 1902, although in fact resistance ganizing the expedition: planning the the warfs [sic] and the regular fer sputtered on for years afterward. By itinerary, gathering the equipment, and ries between San Francisco, Sau the middle of that decade, the situation selecting the civilian crew. His many salito, Oakland are plying back and had stabilized to a point where the administrative duties did not allow him forth. Two large government boats United States could begin consolidating to participate in the entire cruise, but he lie at anchor at a little distance from its power. One of the first orders of busi did arrange to be aboard for the first few our vessel and our launch seems ness was to survey the newly acquired months. Although the Albatross carried impatient to be off to shore for territory and assess its resources, and a crew of some 70 officers and enlist her last trip before we lift anchor the Albatross was given the job of sur ed men, the scientific crew was surpris and depart. Numerous . gulls are veying the aquatic resources of the is ingly small. Joining Smith on the initial beating back and forth watching lands. She had done similar service in leg of the expedition were Frederick M. the vessels for discards from the the Hawaiian Islands when they were Chamberlain (Fig. 2), the Resident Nat cook’s pantry. All is cheerful and if acquired, but the magnitude of the Phil uralist of the ship; Lewis Radcliffe of present indications augur well we ippine survey was far beyond any of the Bureau of Fisheries, aboard as Gen should have a most successful and her previous expeditions. The archipel eral Assistant and Naturalist; H. C. Fas enjoyable expedition”.1 ago extends approximately 1,100 miles sett, Fishery Expert; Paul Bartsch (Fig. north to south, and almost 700 miles east 3), a malacologist and the official rep to west. It comprises some 7,100 sepa resentative of the Smithsonian Institu 1 Paul Bartsch papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7089, housed in Division rate islands, ranging from mountainous tion; and Clarence M. Wells, Assistant of Molluscs, National Museum of Natural His minicontinents like Luzon and Mindan- and Clerk.

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