Seaman
Seaman was a Newfoundland dog owned by Meriwether Lewis who accompanied his master on the Voyage of Discovery, also known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Lewis purchased Seaman specifically for the trip, likely picking a Newfoundland for its size and the known strength of the breed. Seaman was purchased in Pittsburgh for the sum of $20 while Lewis was awaiting the completion of the boats which would take the slowly gathering Corps of Discovery down the Ohio River.
Mentions of Seaman are relatively rare in Lewis’ journal of the expedition and in his personal diary, but there are enough to arrive at the conclusion that he was valued by the Corps and that Lewis was fond of him. One item of note is that the Corps of discovery often ate dog meat during the expedition, which was not an uncommon source of protein on the frontier in those days, but Seaman escaped such a fate.
In 1805, according to the journals of both Lewis and William Clark, Seaman was in a fight with a beaver, which gave the dog a bite on the hind leg which required Lewis and Clark to perform surgery on the dog. The surgery appears to have been the cauterizing or other repair of a severed artery. The idea of performing any type of surgery on a dog the size of a Newfoundland in the absence of any anesthesia is daunting, but Seaman clearly survived the injury and the surgery because he is mentioned in the journals on later dates.
At one stage Seaman was stolen by three Indians, and Lewis sent an armed party after them demanding the dog be returned, or he would attack and kill the small group of Indians accompanying the three. The dog was returned. Another incident involving a bison charging the camp, endangering some of the sleeping men, is described with Seaman charging the bison, barking and darting out of the way, effectively herding the animal away from the tents until the men were able to scramble to safety.
Lewis last referred to Seaman in his journal in 1806, in a passage describing the prevalence of mosquitoes which were plaguing the expedition. At that time the Corps of Discovery was in the general vicinity of Great Falls, Montana. Lewis describes the dog being tormented by the mosquitoes and their unceasing biting, a torment which Lewis shared. Some scholars speculate that Seaman may have been with Lewis when he died at an inn on the Natchez Trace in 1809, but there is no definitive proof of this.