Hello all! Firstly – sorry it has been so long since I have written a post. It has been manic here! Whilst I am trying to get through a lot of data work and disappearing off to Ireland and Cardiff (for the second time), Holly has been starting to write some website content and disappearing … Read more
The HMS Challenger voyage was massive. A four year long trip around the world is not going to go without ups and downs. Here are some of the sad and unfortunate deaths of the crew as the years went by. 18th November 1872 – Challenger at Sheerness, Kent [googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d1272228.2725905256!2d-1.6171698629065225!3d51.479802712613164!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x47d8d5fd673a9139%3A0xb08db03282ac83a7!2sSheerness%2C+Kent!5e0!3m2!1sen!2suk!4v1431077465138&w=400&h=300] Let’s start right at the … Read more
April’s anemones! Sea anenomes are in the phylum cnidaria, like jellyfish. Sea anemones attach themselves to rocks with their adhesive foot, attacking prey as they go past with their stinging tentacles. Their tentacles have cells that contain toxins that, when touched, shoot out venom that paralyse the prey. The anemone then uses its tentacles to … Read more
Christmas on HMS Challenger Hello again! Since it is that time of year when the Christmas tree is decorated and soon you will be tucking in to a massive Christmas dinner, I thought you would be interested to know what Christmas was like on board the Challenger. Four Christmas’s were spent out at sea or … Read more
The Percy Sladen Collection Here at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum we are lucky enough to have the Percy Sladen collection, part of which was collected on the HMS Challenger throughout the exhibition. Percy Sladen was a scientist born on 30th June 1849 who grew a good reputation as a biologist. He was presented the starfish material … Read more
Station recordings from HMS Challenger Here we are again! I told you all last time I would let you see some of the original data from the reports from the HMS Challenger. Let’s look at some recordings from station 256. This was on the journey from Yokohama to the Sandwich Islands on July 21st 1875. … Read more
As I explained in our first post, the HMS Challenger expedition aimed to find out the chemistry and physics of the deep-sea. However, what and how did they measure? Measurements and equipment used on HMS Challenger To measure temperature: Miller-Cassela thermometers One of the main components they wanted to measure was … Read more
The HMS Challenger scientific expedition is fascinating to hear about. For those of you that don’t know much about it and want to know more than what is in the About the Project page then do read on! Why search for deep-sea life? Scientists started looking for deep-sea life to challenge Edward Forbes’ ‘azoic’ theory: … Read more