The 1839–40 United States Exploring Expedition led by Charles Wilkes was the largest of the early expeditions around the world. Its six ships carried 433 men, including several scientists although not all these vessels visited Antarctica. The crew of the Vincennes (Wilkes’s flagship) and Wilkes’s dog Sydney landed on an iceberg on 14 February 1840, staying there for several hours. Wilkes’s sketch depicts this happy scene and the Antarctic Continent in the distance.
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Reference: Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition: during the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. London: Ingram, Cooke, 1852, opposite p. 264
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