 Between 1853 and 1856, he took part in the Rodgers-Ringgold North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition, collecting plants in Madeira, Cape Verde, Cape Town, Sydney, Hong Kong, the Bonin Islands, Japan (at Hakodate, Tanegashima, the Bonin Islands and the Ryukyu Islands including Okinawa) and the western side of the Bering Strait.He collected over 500 specimens while the ships were delayed at Simon's Bay, near Cape Town.Wright left the expedition at San Francisco in February 1856 and went south to Nicaragua.