ABSTRACT
The scientific circumnavigation of HMS Challenger from 1872 to 1876 is acknowledged as representing an important stage in the development of ocean science, if not its very beginning. This recognition is certainly justified. Prior to the Challenger Expedition, no circumnavigation had been devoted solely to scientific research; no government had invested so much effort and funding in a single scientific undertaking; no marine expedition had collected so much data and so many samples; no marine collection had been so well curated; and no expedition had produced such a mass of published scientific information or had such an influence on future research. 1
