"Feejee Islands" Published by Charles Wilkes, 1845 Charles Wilkes commanded the Wilkes Expedition from 1838 to 1842, as approved by the government of the United States. With six ships in his charge, Wilkes' mission was to explore and chart previously discovered territory, and to document any new lands he encountered. It took three months for Wilkes and his men, working in small launches, to carry out a survey of the Fiji Islands. The survey included over a hundred islands and the gathering of the largest collection of artifacts in the outside world. This reproduction of Wilkes' charting of the Fiji Islands was originally published in 1845.