Flying Fish

The first USS Flying Fish (1838), a schooner, was formerly the New York pilot boat Independence; purchased at New York 3 August 1838; and upon joining her squadron in Hampton Roads 12 August 1838 was placed under command of Passed Midshipman S. R. Knox.

Assigned as a tender in the U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838–42 commanded by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, Flying Fish sailed with her squadron 19 August 1838 to visit Madeira and Rio de Janeiro while bound for Tierra del Fuego, where the squadron arrived early in 1839. From this jumping-off point, the squadron made its first cruises toward the Antarctic Continent, which it was to discover later the same year after surveys among Pacific islands and a visit to Australia.

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