Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Foundation of Oceanography voy…

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Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Foundation of Oceanography voyage of HMS Challenger

AssociatedAssociated with Lord Mountbatten of Burma (Frogmore House, Windsor, England, 1900 - 1979)

Medallist John Pinches, Medallists

DateMay 2004

Object NameMedal

MediumSterling Silver

ClassificationsMedals

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDMS072500.66

Keywords

Commemorative

About MeThe voyage of HMS Challenger round the world to carry out a hydrographic survey of the deep sea was inspired by Charles Wyville Thomson, Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University. He persuaded the Royal Society and the Admiralty to provide a ship for an extended voyage which lasted from December 1872 to May 1876, in the course of which scientific work on the ocean bed could be carried out in various parts of the world. When the ship returned, she had voyaged a distance of 69,000 miles.

The provision of a warship for scientific work was no new thing. The voyages of Captain Cook and that of HMS Beagle were the most important precedents. The Challenger was a steam corvette of 2,300 tons from which all guns, save two, were removed to provide facilities for a floating laboratory. Most of the time she was under sail, reserving the use of her engines for the constant dredging and trawling of the seabed. She was commanded at first by Captain George Nares, who left the ship at Hong Kong to win fame as the leader of an expedition to the Arctic; Captain F. T. Thomson succeeded him. The six civilian scientists on board, led by Professor Thomson, included the young John Murray, who completed the publication of the results of the expedition in 50 enormous volumes.

The route of the Challenger was varied and leisurely. She crossed the Atlantic three times before reaching the Cape of Good Hope, whence she sailed south of the Antarctic Circle and then north to Australia and New Zealand. She then proceeded to New Guinea and the East Indies, where she discovered the Marianas trench in latitude 11°24" N, the greatest depth in the world. She recorded a measurement of 4,500 fathoms, whereas in 1951 her successor, the survey ship Challenger II, recorded 5, 960 fathoms (35, 760. feet) and in J 959 a Russian ship measured a depth of 6.85 miles (36,198 feet). After visiting Japan, the Challenger crossed to Hawaii, then south to Tahiti and home by Cape Horn and St. Helena.

An immense amount of scientific information was collected on this long voyage. A great number of specimens new to science were brought home and considerable additions to anthropological knowledge were made. This hydrographic survey of the deep sea virtually founded the modern science of oceanography.

The Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea, John Pinches Medallists Ltd.