Explorers' Best Friend

When Lewis and Clark embarked on their expedition through the Western United States in May 1804, their party roster included 40 other men. One member of the team who was not accounted for on the official roster was Seaman, Meriwether Lewis’ newfoundland. Interestingly enough, until 1987, due to Lewis’ poor handwriting, historians thought the dog’s name was Scannon. His real name was deciphered in 1987 by historian Donald Jackson.

When preparing for the journey and accumulating survival necessities, Lewis thought it a good investment to purchase a dog. For twenty dollars, he purchased Seaman. Lewis chose the newfoundland because he was impressed with the breed’s size and strength. He thought the breed’s swimming ability would be useful as well. Throughout his journals, Lewis describes Seaman’s “sagacity”- his wisdom.

Seaman wasn’t a “regular” in Lewis’ journal entries, but brief instances of him appear throughout the logs. In one interesting anecdote, the team stumbles upon a buffalo calf. Seaman startles the calf, who reacts by “attaching itself to my side and continued to follow close at my heels until I embarked and left it”, according to Lewis. Seaman was very useful for the team. He often tracked down wounded animals while they were hunting. Though the team actually devoured over two hundred dogs during their travels, Seaman was, luckily for him, not one of them. He also served as a guard dog for the team against wild animals and, occasionally, violent Native Americans.

Like the rest of the party, Seaman saw his share of hardships during the expedition. Several times, Seaman disappeared- he was often gone for entire nights. Lewis frequently worried he lost the dog, but Seaman always returned by morning. In May 1805, Seaman was bitten by a beaver. He was bitten right on an artery in his hind leg and Lewis wrote how difficult it was to staunch the bleeding. He thought the bite may have been the death of Seaman. Ten days later, however, Seaman was back in action.

 

Lewis and Clark named a Montanan creek in Seaman’s honor. Unfortunately, the creek has since been renamed Monture Creek.

No one knows exactly what happened to Seaman. The last written record of him was in July of 1806, when Lewis wrote of the terrible swarms of mosquitos the crew was encountering. He described how Seaman would “howl with the torture of them”. It is unknown whether Seaman survived to see the end of the journey or not. There are no reports of him returning nor any record of him after.