Oceanographic Expeditions 



EDMUND HALLEY (1657-1742) 



British astronomer, Halley made 

 probably the first primarily 

 scientific voyage - to study the 

 variation of the magnetic compass - 

 sailing as far as lat. 52°S. in the 

 Atlantic Ocean in 1698-1700. On a 

 previous expedition to St. Helena, 

 he made an important contribution to 

 knowledge of the trade v^inds. He 

 also wrote on l\6es. He realized 

 more than anyone the value of 

 Newton's Principia and arranged for 

 it to be printed at his own expense. 



JAMES COOK (1728-79) 



On his three great voyages between 

 1768 and 1780, Cook carried 

 naturalists in his ships and made 

 careful observations of winds and 

 currents. During the second voyage 

 the Forster brothers measured sub- 

 surface temperature and found a warm 

 deep layer below the Antarctic 

 surface water. 



FRANCOIS PgRON (1775-1810) 



French naturalist and physicist, 

 P^ron accompanied a French circum- 

 navigation of the globe in 1800-04. 

 He was able to make only a few 

 rather uncertain deep temperature 

 measurements, but was much Im- 

 pressed by the Importance of oceanic 

 research and maintained that it had 

 received too little attention. 



IVAN F. KRUZENSTEIN (1770-1846) 



He commanded a Russian circum- 

 navigation in 1803-06 and was accom- 

 panied by Dr. J. C. Horner and with 

 him made a number of deep sea 

 temperature measurements In the 

 tropical Pacific and the Sea of Okhotsk. 



WILLIAM SCORESBY (Jun.) (1789-1857) 



An English whaler and scientist, 

 Scoresby made many surface and deep 

 observations In the seas around 

 Spitsbergen and off the coast of 

 Greenland between 1810 and 1822. 



FABION G. von BELLINGSHAUSEN (1779-1852) 



He circumnavigated the Antarctic 

 continent in 1819-21, much of the 

 voyage being south of lat. 60°S. 

 He was bitterly disappointed in 

 having to sail without a naturalist. 

 "In this way our hopes of making 

 discoveries in the field of natural 

 history were dashed to the ground," 

 he wrote. Nevertheless he made many 

 valuable observations, and his artist 

 Paul Mikhailov painted a fine series 

 of pictures of marine animals. 



OTTO von KOTZEBUE (1787-1846) 



This Russian admiral made two 

 circumnavigations in 1815-18 and 

 1823-26, primarily for scientific 

 purposes. Many deep-sea temperature 

 observations were made, and Emil von 

 Lenz, physicist on the second voyage, 

 recognized that a surface flow of 

 water from low to high latitudes must 

 be supplied by a flow from the poles 

 at great depths. 



JEAN S. C. DUMONT d'URVILLE (1790-1842) 



A French admiral, he made three 

 circumnavigations in 1822-25, 

 1826-29, and 1837-40. He made many 

 deep-sea temperature observations, 

 but because of the effect of pressure 

 on the thermometers he concluded that 

 in the open oceans the temperature of 

 the water below about 500 fathoms was 

 uniform at nearly 4.4°c. He wrongly 

 concluded that somewhere 

 between lat. 40°S. and lat. 60°S., 

 ocean water was at a uniform 

 temperature of 4.4°c. from the surface 

 to the bottom. 



SIR JAMES CLARK ROSS (1800-62) 



He made the first extensive series of 

 deep sea soundings during his voyage 

 to the Southern Seas In 1839^3 

 in H. M. S. Erebus and Terror. 

 He made comprehensive studies of the 

 Earth's magnetism, many deep-sea 

 temperature measurements and 

 extensive biological collections. Dr. J. D. 

 Hooker, who went on the voyage as 

 surgeon-naturalist, published his 

 well-known Botany of the Antarctic, 

 voyage of the Erebus and Terror. 

 Ross also studied the effect of 

 variations of atmospheric pressure 

 on sea level. He had the same ideas 

 as Dumont d'Urville about temperature 

 of the deep water. Dredgings were 

 made at depths down to 400 fathoms 

 but the collections were subsequently 

 neglected and lost to science. 



CHARLES WILKES (1798-1877) 



He commanded six ships taking part in 

 the United States expedition of 

 1838-42. Although the scientific 

 staff, under the direction of the 

 famous naturalist, J. D. Dana, did not 

 go south of Sydney, Australia, extensive 

 natural history collections were made. 

 Scientifically the expedition is best 

 known for Dana's description of 

 Crustacea. What must have been an 

 enormous collection of fishes was 

 never properly reported on. 



ROBERT FIT2ROY (1805-65) 



This British admiral commanded the 

 Beagle during her famous voyages of 

 1826-36. Charles Darwin, who sailed 

 In her from 1831-36, added much to 

 our knowledge of natural history, 

 especially on the structure and 

 origin of coral reefs and islands. 

 Only two sets of temperature 

 observations were made. 



MATTHEW F. MAURY (1806-73) 



An officer In the United States 

 Navy, he sailed around the world 

 and his sea experience taught him 

 the critical need to Increase the 

 efficiency of shipping through 

 better navigation and safety at sea. 

 He was successful In convincing the 

 world of the value of more systematic 

 study and charting of winds and 

 currents. He also produced the 

 first bathymetric chart of the North 

 Atlantic Ocean. 



EDWARD FORBES (1815-54) 



He studied the fauna of the Aegean 

 Sea and did much to stimulate 

 Interest In marine biology, partly, 



perhaps, by promoting an active 

 study of depths greater than 300 

 fathoms, below which he believed 

 that animal life ceased to exist. 



WILLIAM B. CARPENTER (1813-85) 



SIR CHARLES WYVILLE THOMSON (1830-82) 

 GWYN JEFFREYS (1809-85) 



They made dredging expeditions In 

 H.M.S. Lightning, Porcupine, and 

 Shearwater in the eastern North 

 Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. 

 They found many new species of 

 animals and made enough temperature 

 observations to show that there was 

 an active circulation of the water 

 below the surface. They dredged at 

 depths down to 2000 fathoms. 



H. M. S. CHALLENGER (1872-76) 



This research ship carried five 

 scientists, under the direction of 

 Wyvllle Thomson, and made extensive 

 biological, chemical, geological, 

 and physical observations, mainly 

 in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans 

 and across the Indian Ocean 

 south of lat. 40°S. The extensive 

 biological collections, together with 

 soundings, bottom samples, and 

 chemical and physical observations, 

 presented the first broad view of the 

 character of the oceans. 



U. S. S. TUSCARORA (1874-75) 



Commanded by Captain George E. 

 Belknap. Scientists on this 

 voyage studied the distribution of 

 temperature In the northern Pacific 

 Ocean, took a large number of sound- 

 ings, and collected samples of bottom 

 deposits. She was the first ship to 

 use piano wire for a sounding line, 

 although Sir William Thomson (Lord 

 Kelvin) had used it In his yacht. The 

 ship obtained a sounding more than 

 five miles deep east of Japan. Her 

 work was extended to the central 

 Pacific Ocean in later years. 



S. M. S. GAZELLE (1874-76) 



This German corvette, like the 

 Chailenger, worked mainly in the 

 Atlantic and Pacific oceans, adding 

 especially to our knowledge of the 

 physics of the oceans. 



U. S. S. BLAKE (1877-80) 



Scientists aboard this ship explored 

 the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, 

 and the coast of Florida, under the 

 direction of Alexander Agasslz. 

 She was later commanded by John 

 Elliot Pillsbury, who, beginning In 

 1885, made a remarkable series of 

 current measurements. The current 

 and temperature were measured at 

 different depths along several 

 sections across the Florida Strait 

 and at a number of stations In the 

 passages of the Windward Islands. 



U. S. S. ALBATROSS (1888-1905) 



This research ship, belonging 

 to the United States Fish 

 Commission, worked extensively in 

 the eastern Pacific Ocean from Easter 

 Island and Callao In Peru to the 

 Bering Sea, and also in Japanese 

 waters and in the Sea of Okhotsk. 



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