Naval officer; born in
Roxbury, Pa., March 4, 1821.
While yet a midshipman (1845), he led a small party to explore the interior of
Brazil, and in 1848 explored the peninsula of
California.
In 1849 he crossed
South America from
Valparaiso to
Buenos Ayres, and wrote an account of the journey, entitled
The Cordillera and Pampa, Mountain and plain: sketches of a journey in Chile and the Argentine provinces.
In 1850 he was assigned to the Mexican boundary commission, and afterwards (1854) led a famous expedition across the Isthmus of
Darien, for an account of which see
Harper's magazine, 1856-57.
In 1856, in the steamer
Arctic,
Lieutenant Strain ascertained by soundings the practicability of laying an ocean telegraphic cable between
America and
Europe.
He died in
Aspinwall,
Colombia, May 14, 1857.