PREFACE. 1x 
Cooper for the excellent manner in which Mr. Wild’s beauti- 
ful drawings have been rendered on the wood. 
After the first chapters of these volumes were written, many 
changes took place in our staff. Captain Nares, F.R.S., was 
recalled at the end of the second year, to take command of the 
Arctic Expedition. This was a heavy blow to the Challenger. 
Captain Nares, from his experience as a surveying officer, was 
eminently fitted to direct the executive in such an undertaking, 
and the deep interest which he took in every branch of our 
investigations, and the intelligent knowledge which he pos- 
sessed of their scope and objects, were the best possible guar- 
antee for the various operations being thoroughly and consci- 
entiously carried out. We were indeed most fortunate in the 
choice of a successor to Captain Nares, for Captain Frank 
Thomson, although identified with another branch of the serv- 
ice, and lying under the further disadvantage of wanting the 
experience in the new field of research which we had labori- 
ously gained during the two previous years, showed himself in 
every way anxious to carry out the system initiated by Cap- 
tain Nares, and to adopt any reasonable suggestion for the more 
complete performance of our task. 
I think nearly all of us, naval and civilian, wildly volunteered 
to follow our old captain—to the Pole or anywhere else. The 
services of one officer only, Lieutenant Pelham Aldrich, were 
accepted ; and another most unwelcome blank was made in our 
circle. Lieutenant Bromley succeeded Aldrich as first lieu- 
tenant, and we were again remarkably fortunate in Lieutenant 
Alfred Carpenter joining us, from the Zron Duke, to fill the 
vacancy. 
During the third year of the eruise the civilian staff lost 
one of its most valuable members by death. Dr. Rudolf von 
Willemoes-Suhm, to whom the study of the Annulosa had been 
