11 Facts About Challenger expedition

The Challenger expedition, led by Captain George Nares, sailed from Portsmouth, England, on 21 December 1872.

Challenger expedition sailed close to Antarctica, but not within sight of it.

The Challenger expedition called at Samboangan on Mindanao, and then Iloilo on the island of Panay, before navigating within the interior of the archipelago en route to the bay and harbour of Manila on the island of Luzon.

Challenger expedition then headed east into the open sea, before turning to the south-east and making landfall at Humboldt Bay on the north coast of New Guinea.

Challenger expedition departed Japan in mid-June 1875, heading east across the Pacific to a point due north of the Sandwich Islands, and then turning south, making landfall at the end of July at Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

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The route touched at the Juan Fernandez Islands in mid-November 1875, with Challenger expedition reaching the port of Valparaiso in Chile a few days later.

Challenger expedition reached the Falkland Islands towards the end of January, calling at Port Stanley and then continuing northward, reaching Montevideo in Uruguay in mid-February 1876.

One of the goals of the physical measurements for HMS Challenger expedition was to be able to verify the hypothesis put forward by Carpenter on the link between temperature mapping and global ocean circulation in order to provide some answers on the phenomena involved in the major oceanic mixing.

Primary thermometer used throughout the Challenger expedition was the Miller–Casella thermometer, which contained two markers within a curved mercury tube to record the maximum and minimum temperature through which the instrument traveled.

Findings from the Challenger expedition continued to be published until 1895, nineteen years after the completion of its journey, by the Challenger Office, Edinburgh, established for that purpose.

Specimens brought back by Challenger expedition were distributed to the world's foremost experts for examination, which greatly increased the expenses and time required to finalize the report.