HMS Challenger expeditionIn 1872, HMS Challenger sailed from Portsmouth, England, on the first expedition organized and funded for a specific scientific purpose. It was to examine the deep-sea floor and investigate specific questions about the oceam environment. In 1870, At the urging of Wyville Thomson, Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University, the Royal Society requested the British Government to provide a ship for global ocean exploration. The British naval corvette HMS Challenger was a steam-assisted three-masted square-rigged wooden sailing vessel, converted from its original combat ship mission by removing cannon and fitting it with laboratories, dredging equipment and storage space. The expedition returned to Spithead on 24 May 1876, Fifty volume of reports were written.« |
