Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper

Chapter 53: HMS Challenger: The Start of In-depth Oceanography

The Challenger exploration cruise from December 7, 1872 to May 26, 1876 was carried out through the cooperation of the British Admiralty and the Royal Society.   Captain George Strong Nares commanded the ship which was a wooden corvette (a small warship) of 2,306 tons.   As they shared different factoids about the HMS Challenger, StLF and MYKA exchanged quips.

"Back when he was first a student at Florida Tech, Dad had a corvette.   It was a '69 Stingray in Daytona yellow, with removable roof panels, so he could carry his surfboard.    It was older than he was, a vintage model that he helped his dad restore to 'like new' condition.  Dad loved surfing at Sebastian Inlet and sometimes up near Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach.  Dad grew up in New Jersey, so he surfed up there and went to the original Ron Jon store in Ship Bottom.  Dad liked to tell his northern friends about his surfing year-round in Florida and attending  classes in shorts, tees, and barefooted.   Florida Institute of Technology was a surfer's dream.  Only the Jensen Beach campus would have been better.  But with his '69 Corvette trips to the beach in it on every good day. . ."

"I bet that Corvette didn't weigh over 2300 tons."

"No, but it could go a lot faster, and that is saying a lot since corvettes were known for speed even in the 1800s."

"Yeah. But modern-day corvette sea-going vessels are not considered great shakes in combat circles."

"It would have been exciting to be a part of that first scientific trip aboard the HMS Challenger. Of course, today when we say we'd like to have been a scientist aboard the Challenger, people assume we are talking about the space shuttle.   It had nine successful missions before that chilly January morning back in 1986. I would have loved to have been aboard the first mission of either Challenger."

The scientific staff of the HMS Challenger was headed by British naturalist John Murray and Scottish naturalist Charles Wyville Thompson.   It was responsible for gathering observations from 362 sampling stations, and making 492 deep soundings, and 133 dredging episodes, in all, covering 68,890 nautical miles.  The warship was converted into the first dedicated oceanographic ship, designed specifically to gather data of ocean features and the geology of the seafloor.

The ship had laboratories equipped with microscopes, nets, trawls, and other samplers to grab rocks and mud.    The worldwide exploration made many exciting discoveries, including discoveries of ridges and trenches, including the Marianas Trench.

The Challenger took a sounding of a very deep place, now named Challenger Deep.    It is 37,800 feet deep, believed to be the deepest trench of Earth's oceans.  The discoveries of the Challenger Expedition encouraged scientists around the world to imagine and plan expeditions of their own.   StLF and MYKA  had both studied about the amazing discoveries from this early expedition.  They agreed they could write a book on the more than 4,000 new species discovered, the scientific equipment used, (some of it invented for the activities to be done) and the harrowing events of the voyage which led to "deaths, desertions, and departures".    Wait a minute!   Many books already existed about this famous expedition.   In fact, findings from this expedition continued to be published until 1895.  The report itself contained 50 volumes and it is available today online, which was why current oceanographers can compare notes and marvel at the early works.

The desire to learn about the ocean within the Antarctic Circle, was on the long list of goals for the HMS Challenger.   On the sixteenth of February 1874, Challenger crossed the Antarctic Circle and went on to reach latitude 66 degrees 40 minutes S. at longitude 78 degrees 30 minutes E. Challenger did not have the ability to stay among the icebergs for long.   The ship had three masts of sails and a 1,200-horse power steam engine, but the steam engine was used frugally and at a slow speed.   Whenever possible, the sails were used instead.   Challenger remained among the icebergs for less than three weeks before heading to Melbourne, Australia.

The physical obstacles make research in the Antarctic region a great challenge but oceanographers continue to pursue all regions of the world in search of hydrothermal vents.