Blossom expedition

[3][4] Rea and the museum trustees selected George Finlay Simmons, an ornithologist and future president of the University of Montana,[5] as the leader of the expedition.

The scientific crew consisted of taxidermist Robert H. Rockwell, biologist Kenneth Cuyler, and field naturalist Allan Moses.

The museum ran a newspaper advertisement seeking a ship captain that was "Inclined to Piracy", which ultimately led to the selection of Emery Gray.

[4] Held in storage were "approximately one-and-one-half tons of food for each man" as well as coffee, tea, cocoa, and barrels containing 4,500 US gallons (17,000 litres) of water.

Flooding caused several issues on the ship, such as damage to equipment, spoilage of food supplies, and contamination of barrels holding fresh drinking water due to their improper sealing.

The men were left stranded at Brava for three months, as Simmons decided to explore the rest of the Cape Verde archipelago before recovering them.

[4] The angered Rockwell only conceded when Simmons told him that the expedition was to travel to continental Africa to collect big-game specimens.

Ultimately, they could not travel to South Georgia Island because of personnel changes, delays caused by severe weather, and the physical limits of the ship.

[9] The Blossom sailed north and landed in South Carolina on June 4, 1926,[3] returning to the United States after traveling for more than two years and seven months and over 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometres).

[7][11] After the Blossom was docked in Charleston, South Carolina, the museum sold her to da Lomba, who then used her for business ventures until she was shipwrecked off the coast of Africa in 1930.