At least two good things came out of Meriweather Lewis's long wait in Pittsburgh while the boat was completed.

Lewis had written his good friend William Clark, and asked him to co-lead the expedition with him. As he had had no response, he then turned to the commander of Ft. Fayette, Lt. Moses Hooke, and asked if he would assume that position. Hooke agreed, and was preparing to leave with Lewis when Clark's letter arrived. Had the boat been ready and Lewis able to leave Pittsburgh on July 31, he would have sailed with Hooke at his side and the expedition would have been known as the "Lewis & Hooke" Journey of Exploration.

The other notable event was that Lewis bought a dog for this journey, a full grown Newfoundland, for $20. Newfoundlands are working dogs, broad and strong, good hunters and swimmers. They are also loving and loyal companions. Lewis could not have chosen a better breed for this journey.

History says he was named "Seaman". In some of the journals the name was spelled "Seamon" but spelling was idiosyncratic in that era. Seaman may have come to Lewis with that name already bestowed, or Lewis may have named him later, on the journey, seeing how well he took to the keelboat.

Seaman/Seamon was a positive addition to the group. In Ohio, he caught and killed squirrels and other small game, and brought them back to Lewis. He was able to bring down a wounded deer and one time caught and drowned an antelope and pulled it back to shore to the men.

Seaman stood guard over the camp, and barked away bears and other marauding animals.

He started out the journey as Lewis's dog, but soon came to be thought of as "our dog" by all the men. When he got into a scrape, or did something special, they wrote about it. That is how we know about the drowned antelope.

One time he was in a fight with a beaver, and received a deep gash in the leg and lost a lot of blood. They were afraid he might die. All the men worried about him.
Another time, he was kidnapped by 3 Indians, who planned to eat him. Lewis and some of the men went after the Indians, and rescued Seaman.

Seaman made the journey to the Pacific Ocean and back. He suffered the same hardships as the men. While we don't know what happened to him after the journey, and can only hope that he retired with one of the corpsmen.