ABSTRACT
In the years of Pax Britannica which followed Waterloo, the Royal Navy became, among other things, an instrument for conducting scientific research. Exploration, hydrography, and surveying remained priorities, as they had during the era of Cook and Vancouver. After the Napoleonic Wars a general enthusiasm for scientific knowledge developed, especially among the broadening middle classes. Societies with specific scientific aims became popular. They seemed to fill a psychological need resulting from the French and Napoleonic Wars, and, as one writer has put it, 'In so far as the new societies were concerned with the promotion of travel and exploration and with the accumulation of knowledge about foreign and unknown lands, they provided a most welcome avenue of
Exact and more specialized investigations took place during the early nineteenth century, as opposed to the broad studies of the late eighteenth century, and the Beechey expedition exemplifies the then popular enthusiasm for the promotion of science through geographical discovery and exploration. Moreover, the Geographical Society was founded in London in 1830 with the belief that geographical knowledge was of
In this era, the aims of science and empire were essentially one and the same. This was recognized by such persons as Sir John Barrow, a principal founder of the Geographical Society, and Secretary of the Admiralty for most of the period 1804-45. Barrow was the father of modern Arctic exploration and his principal motive in promoting it lay in the adage which had evolved in Tudor times, 'Knowledge is power'. Barrow considered science subservient to British naval and commercial interests; it constituted a means of acquiring power.J
The renewal of British polar exploration was made possible by peace. Small ships could be employed in voyages of discovery for the advancement of navigation, geography, and, hopefully, commerce. As early as May 1814, Thomas Hurd, Hydrographer to the Admiralty, wrote a lengthy memorandum for the Admiralty on the relations of science and empire and the need for Arctic exploration. Some of it IS worth repetition here:
He then went on to list the needs ofhis department: surveys of the China and Eastern Seas, Kamchatka, Tasmania, East Africa, the Mediterranean, and Great Britain. Hurd made no particular reference to the Arctic, but noted that surveyors had been sent out to the 'Newfoundland and American Stations'. And he concluded:
Some indication of how seriously successive British governments took this matter of scientific discovery is revealed by the fact that in the sixty-year period after 18oo, no less than 190 Admiralty ships were employed on missions of discovery.z In the 182os alone, 26 ships were sent, including Beechey's ship,
H.M.S. Blossom. This number may not seem great when the size of the British fleet is recalled, but the forced economies of that period did not allow for the active service of any warships, on scientific duties or not, unless they were needed for the maintenance or promotion of national security and prosperity.
