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Sea Change

Celebrating the groundbreaking expedition of HMS Challenger

Sea Change Hero Image

Just over a century before NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger made its maiden flight in 1983, its namesake embarked on a groundbreaking voyage of exploration across the world’s oceans.

Circumnavigating the globe between 1872 and 1876, the crew of HMS Challenger collected data and specimens to help us understand the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the deep sea. Published over 20 years from the expedition’s offices in Edinburgh, the Challenger Report would become the first detailed record of our oceans, providing baseline data for the effects of climate change on our oceans today.

From ship modifications to cutting edge instruments, new scientific and publishing practices and the role of imperial and trade networks in 19th century research expeditions, this exhibition explores the global, technological, and social changes that laid the foundations for modern oceanographic studies.

While the expedition departed on its voyage under the command of Captain George Strong Nares (1831- 1915) from Sheerness, England in 1872, its story begins in 1871. Charles Wyville Thomson (1830-1882), Professor of Natural History at the University, and William B. Carpenter (1813-1885), Registrar of London University and vice-president of the Royal Society, successfully persuaded the Royal Society of London to ask the British Government to supply a ship for a prolonged voyage of exploration.

Thomson served as the scientific director on Challenger, building on his successful work aboard HMS Lightning and HMS Porcupine for deep-sea expeditions in the summers of 1868 and 1869 where he and Carpenter confirmed the presence of life at great depths.

H.M.S. Challenger Moored at St. Paul's Rocks

Creator John James Wild
Date 1873
Object reference Gen.30.3

Although the expedition remains in popular memory as a voyage in pursuit of science, it was only made possible by the infrastructure and resources of the Royal Navy. Not only did the British Government supply a vessel, but salaries for scientific staff and naval crew and funds for scientific equipment.

There were practical advantages to this significant investment, at the time the most expensive single scientific endeavour attempted. Britain relied on control over the world’s oceans to protect its trading routes and colonies: the source of its supreme wealth. Knowledge of the ocean floor would also support the laying of telegraph sea cables, a booming business centred in Britain. The expedition would simultaneously enhance Britain’s reputation as a leader in scientific discovery and be of strategic and commercial value.

Title: H.M.S. Challenger Moored at St. Paul's Rocks
Creator John James Wild
Date 1873
Object reference Gen.30.3

Joining Thomson on the expedition was the chemist John Young Buchanan (1844-1925), the artist John James Wild (1824-1900), and three naturalists including John Murray (1841-1914), a student at the University who would later be regarded as the father of modern oceanography.

Murray was second in command at the Challenger Office in Edinburgh when the expedition returned but became director after Thomson’s death in 1882. He dedicated over two decades of his life to the project, from assisting Thomson during the voyage to overseeing the final publication of the Challenger Report, including his own significant report on deep-sea deposits.

Photograph of Challenger personnel

Creator Frederick Hodgeson
Date 1874
Object reference Coll-46

In this photograph expedition photographer, Frederick Hodgeson, captures a group who worked closely on scientific tasks during the voyage. Thomson at the centre is surrounded by Wild, Buchanan, the naturalist Rudolf von Willemoës-Suhm, and Navigating Lieutenant Tizard. Standing behind Thomson are two people rarely seen in other Challenger photographs. On the right is William Peniber, Thomson’s assistant who joined the ship at Bermuda, and on the left is Federick Pearcey, the expedition’s taxidermist and general scientific assistant.

Title: Photograph of Challenger personnel
Creator Frederick Hodgeson
Date 1874
Object reference Coll-46
Material Photograph