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The Silent Landscape: The Scientific Voyage of HMS Challenger
In 1872 HMS Challenger set sail from Portsmouth, England, to map and sample the ocean floor. This marked the birth of modern oceanography. By retracing Challenger's extraordinary voyage, we view our underwater landscape anew ? focusing on what 21st century science is now able to add to this incredible story. The oceans make up more than two thirds of the Earth's surface. But they are as mysterious for what they conceal beneath their surfaces as they are familiar for their ubiquity. Deep below the susurrus swell of waves lies an alien world that we have only begun to explore. The quest to know more about this secret domain began in earnest in the late 1800s. In 1859, Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection set the scientific world abuzz with its radical theory of evolution, and sparked a feverish desire to know more about the workings of nature. Scientists became increasingly convinced that the ocean floor could provide proof ? or refutation ? of Darwin's theory of natural selection. They believed that the ocean floor was a haven for life that had long been extinct on land and that obscure fossil evidence culled from the depths could provide us with information on species that no longer existed topside. So an expedition was specifically designed and undertaken to investigate the natural history and geology of the ocean floor. With its emphasis on locating and retrieving fossil records that would test the new theory of evolution, Challenger's voyage was nothing less than a mission to choose between God and science. Sailing three and half years and 69,000 nautical miles through burning tropical heat waves and stupefyingly cold Antarctic seas, and suffering further privations of hunger, storms, and sometimes crushing boredom between data-collecting surveys, Challenger dredged up thousands of samples from the sea floor and mapped enormous areas of undersea terrain. The final result was nothing short of a roaring success. So extensive were their findings that it was to take the scientists 19 years to completely examine and report on all their data. The final report, published in 1895, ran to fifty volumes. Most startling of all was the revelation that the ocean was not a silent landscape that serenely reflected Earth's past ? it was a gloriously vibrant ecosystem teeming with a variety and multitude of life on a scale we could scarcely imagine from our landlocked perspective. Relying on the official documentation, logs, and journals of the ship's company, The Silent Landscape recounts the tale of an extraordinary voyage brought to life by 21st-century science. From the endangered coral reefs of the Caribbean to the trackless depths beneath the western Pacific, The Silent Landscape takes us on an epic journey across time.
300 pages, Paperback
First published August 29, 2003
About the author
Richard Corfield
14 books3 followersRichard Corfield is a Research Associate in the Department of Earth Sciences at Oxford University. He has been at the forefront of palaeontological innovation for the past decade.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 16, 2024
The sub-title 'In the Wake of HMS Challenger 1872 1876' is the key to placing this history in its correct context; Richard Cornfield strived to look beyond the expedition itself and explore what its legacy truly was.
And what a magnificent legacy. The voyage of HMS Challenger was the first dedicated scientific expedition in history, rather than a military expedition of exploration/conquest with a scientific component on-board. HMS Beagle's second voyage, the famous one which carried Charles Darwin (1831-1836) had been given diplomatic objectives, and consequently visited disputed territories on behalf of the Empire.
HMS Challenger though was equipped with laboratories and a full complement of 'Scientifics' and a distinct brief from The Admiralty to pursue a science-based itinerary. The constant dredging of the sea-floor, which almost immediately saw the discovery of manganese nodules (a huge industry for the 20th century and beyond) was perhaps the most obvious sign that the corvettes progress was determined by the need to achieve its scientific objectives.
As mentioned, for that alone, HMS Challenger can claim to be the first dedicated scientific circumnavigation of the world. It's significance was reflected in the willingness of others, including the US, to name future vessels Challenger, not least a Space Shuttle, and the Apollo 17 Lunar Lander, crewed by Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, the only dedicated scientist to have walked on the Moon to date, and who as a professor of geology would have appreciated the strides that HMS Challenger made in geology and other sciences.
A fascinating backstory is how Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection was adopted by a God-fearing Victorian Empire. Thomas Huxley, whose earlier voyage on HMS Rattlesnake had set the tone for Royal Navy expeditions with a substantial scientific component, drove British scientific inquiry and endeavour to heights unimagined before. And Huxley's passion was writ large in Challenger's orders. As 'Darwin's Bulldog' he triumphed in the debate on evolution at the Oxford University Museum in June 1860, but the pace at which comprehension of Earth's geology, age, evolution, a categorisation and cataloging of life on Earth, both living and extinct, allied to huge advances in astronomy and medicine during the Victorian Age were truly astounding. What perhaps didn't change was the stultifying social order, and it would take The Great War to break that, with The Suffragette Movement making its breakthrough in 1918 and a final victory in 1928.
Cornfield concentrates on the discoveries spawned by the multivolume findings of HMS Challengers' voyage (the last volume was published in 1895) through the extraordinary descent to the bottom of the Challenger Deep by Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in 1960 in the Trieste bathyscaphe (perhaps as great a feat as the Apollo Moon landings) to the NASA Voyager probes which explored the Jovian system and beyond and continue to operate today. Deep-sea and ice-drilling have contributed hugely to our understanding of the past, and the impact of climate-change, and Challenger's constant dredging spawned that focus. I found it useful to read a bit more about some of the subjects discussed, such as the discovery of Lake Vostok, deep below the Antarctic.
My only criticisms would be the paucity of illustrations and perhaps a few more detailed maps. Plus a better insight into the daily routines of the ship's crew; they're were around 246-250 'bluejackets' and it isn't clear what they did beyond standing watches, rigging sales and mopping-down the decks.
Other than that, The Silent Landscape is a wonderful and enlightening read.
And what a magnificent legacy. The voyage of HMS Challenger was the first dedicated scientific expedition in history, rather than a military expedition of exploration/conquest with a scientific component on-board. HMS Beagle's second voyage, the famous one which carried Charles Darwin (1831-1836) had been given diplomatic objectives, and consequently visited disputed territories on behalf of the Empire.
HMS Challenger though was equipped with laboratories and a full complement of 'Scientifics' and a distinct brief from The Admiralty to pursue a science-based itinerary. The constant dredging of the sea-floor, which almost immediately saw the discovery of manganese nodules (a huge industry for the 20th century and beyond) was perhaps the most obvious sign that the corvettes progress was determined by the need to achieve its scientific objectives.
As mentioned, for that alone, HMS Challenger can claim to be the first dedicated scientific circumnavigation of the world. It's significance was reflected in the willingness of others, including the US, to name future vessels Challenger, not least a Space Shuttle, and the Apollo 17 Lunar Lander, crewed by Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, the only dedicated scientist to have walked on the Moon to date, and who as a professor of geology would have appreciated the strides that HMS Challenger made in geology and other sciences.
A fascinating backstory is how Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection was adopted by a God-fearing Victorian Empire. Thomas Huxley, whose earlier voyage on HMS Rattlesnake had set the tone for Royal Navy expeditions with a substantial scientific component, drove British scientific inquiry and endeavour to heights unimagined before. And Huxley's passion was writ large in Challenger's orders. As 'Darwin's Bulldog' he triumphed in the debate on evolution at the Oxford University Museum in June 1860, but the pace at which comprehension of Earth's geology, age, evolution, a categorisation and cataloging of life on Earth, both living and extinct, allied to huge advances in astronomy and medicine during the Victorian Age were truly astounding. What perhaps didn't change was the stultifying social order, and it would take The Great War to break that, with The Suffragette Movement making its breakthrough in 1918 and a final victory in 1928.
Cornfield concentrates on the discoveries spawned by the multivolume findings of HMS Challengers' voyage (the last volume was published in 1895) through the extraordinary descent to the bottom of the Challenger Deep by Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in 1960 in the Trieste bathyscaphe (perhaps as great a feat as the Apollo Moon landings) to the NASA Voyager probes which explored the Jovian system and beyond and continue to operate today. Deep-sea and ice-drilling have contributed hugely to our understanding of the past, and the impact of climate-change, and Challenger's constant dredging spawned that focus. I found it useful to read a bit more about some of the subjects discussed, such as the discovery of Lake Vostok, deep below the Antarctic.
My only criticisms would be the paucity of illustrations and perhaps a few more detailed maps. Plus a better insight into the daily routines of the ship's crew; they're were around 246-250 'bluejackets' and it isn't clear what they did beyond standing watches, rigging sales and mopping-down the decks.
Other than that, The Silent Landscape is a wonderful and enlightening read.
February 18, 2023
The Challenger expedition was the first major investigation of the Earth's oceans. It left Portsmouth, England, in December 1872 and returned in May 1876, having travelled as far as the Great Ice Barrier of Antarctica, visiting the Kerguelen Islands, Nova Scotia, the Caribbean, and South Africa in the process. The scientific report eventually ran to 50 volumes and took 20 years to complete.
The expedition started when William Benjamin Carpenter persuaded the Admiralty to let Wyville Thomson have the use of the steam frigate HMS Lightning for part of the summer of 1868, for use in studying the ocean. He and Carpenter were influential enough to persuade the council of the Royal Society (then headed by the eminent Thomas Henry Huxley) and the Admiralty to let them organize a much larger expedition. Thus was born the voyage of HMS Challenger.
Notable on the expedition were:
- Wyville Thomson, who lead the expeditions
- John Murray, a fiery and outspoken Canadian
- Henry Nottidge Moseley, spent several months fitting out a state-of-the-art zoological laboratory on board the ship
- Rudolf von Willemoes Suhm, youngest of the “Scientifics”
- John James Wild, Wyville Thomson’s secretary, who made beautiful illustrations of the novelties
- John Young Buchanan, the chemist
One of the gun bays on the main deck was converted into a tiny but serviceable physical and chemical laboratory for Buchanan’s use. The physical sciences were no less regarded than the natural sciences on the expedition
Three officers published accounts, Lord George Campbell, Navigating Sub-lieutenant Herbert Swire, and Engineering Sub-lieutenant William Spry (his was the best seller, running to 10 editions). One seaman, Joseph Matkin, the ship’s steward’s assistant, also left many accounts of life on board as experienced by the tars or blue-jackets.
The expedition took place 14 years after Darwin published his ideas. The objectives included the investigation of the geology, geography and life forms of the sea and seafloor, but also to find the proof of the theory of evolution, or as it was then known, “descent with modification.” Darwin theorized that on the unchanging ocean floor — the silent landscape — organisms would not have been forced to evolve beyond the form best fitted to that environment millennia ago and, therefore, that the animals of the deep would be evolutionary throwbacks: living fossils. Challenger expedition itself that would overturn the “evolutionary throwback” notion.
One of the first discoveries was of sea lilies, thus proving that the Challenger expedition was fulfilling one of its primary roles: testing Darwin’s theory that the bottom of the ocean was a haven for life forms found on land only as fossils.
Another find was the deep manganese nodules, comprised of manganese, iron, variable amounts of copper and nickel and trace elements of cobalt, titanium, and aluminum. The expedition was to encounter them not only on the east and west sides of the mid-Atlantic ridge but also in the North Pacific between Japan and the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), in the vicinity of the Sandwich Islands themselves, in their biggest find of all, a 3,000-mile arc of them across the South Pacific from Tahiti to Valparaiso.
Regular sounding revealed new depths to the ocean and the existence of a mid-Atlantic plateau. These clues led Wegener to propose that the present-day continents must have — some 200 million year ago — been fused into a single supercontinent.
The Scientifics had discovered one of the most fundamental properties of the ocean, the calcite compensation depth (CCD). The acidity of the ocean increases with depth and there is a level in the ocean where the water becomes sufficiently acidic to dissolve away calcium carbonate, the primary constituent of the animal shells. The CCD is one of the most important and fundamental properties of the deep ocean.
As Challenger travelled around the world, the expedition’s artist, J. J. Wild, had plenty time to draw pictures of the foraminifera that are the main component of Globigerina ooze. no one could have believed that these tiny creatures would, within a century, become vitally important for deciphering the details of our planet’s climatic and oceanographic history.
While the expedition studied a variety of sealife, new findings were also made on land, including the lungfish in Australia. Moseley found the Peripatus, the missing link between the Annelids and the Arthropods. The author talks of the Burgess Shales. "To put it loosely, Hallucigenia was nothing but an armored Peripatus."
The sea bottom was of interest. They noted that Pteropod ooze seemed to predominate at the shallowest depths, down to about 400 fathoms; that the white Globigerina ooze extended down to a depth of about 1,500 fathoms, where the transition to the gray ooze began to occur; and that the gray ooze in its turn gave way to the zone of red clay at a depth of about 2,200 fathoms.
They investigated the strange anomaly in the thermal structure of the North Atlantic known as the Gulf Stream, the width of the stream being fully 60 miles and at least 8°F (4°C) warmer than the waters on either side.
The expedition travelled toward the Great Southern Ice Barrier, where they found that mixing of water masses in the Southern Ocean is profound and continuous. Upwelling caused by the water racing around the coast of Antarctica brings to the surface nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates, which fuel the extraordinary biological fecundity of the seas there.
While Corfield includes some detail of the ship's travels and work, the voyages are used largely as a springboard for narratives on various topics of oceanography. For example, when the ship reaches St. Thomas, he diverts to a narrative on the Devils Triangle and to whether to methane hydrates may have a role in the various disappearances. However, he does a good job of this material on subsequent oceanic discoveries, and they add to the variety and interest of the book.
The expedition started when William Benjamin Carpenter persuaded the Admiralty to let Wyville Thomson have the use of the steam frigate HMS Lightning for part of the summer of 1868, for use in studying the ocean. He and Carpenter were influential enough to persuade the council of the Royal Society (then headed by the eminent Thomas Henry Huxley) and the Admiralty to let them organize a much larger expedition. Thus was born the voyage of HMS Challenger.
Notable on the expedition were:
- Wyville Thomson, who lead the expeditions
- John Murray, a fiery and outspoken Canadian
- Henry Nottidge Moseley, spent several months fitting out a state-of-the-art zoological laboratory on board the ship
- Rudolf von Willemoes Suhm, youngest of the “Scientifics”
- John James Wild, Wyville Thomson’s secretary, who made beautiful illustrations of the novelties
- John Young Buchanan, the chemist
One of the gun bays on the main deck was converted into a tiny but serviceable physical and chemical laboratory for Buchanan’s use. The physical sciences were no less regarded than the natural sciences on the expedition
Three officers published accounts, Lord George Campbell, Navigating Sub-lieutenant Herbert Swire, and Engineering Sub-lieutenant William Spry (his was the best seller, running to 10 editions). One seaman, Joseph Matkin, the ship’s steward’s assistant, also left many accounts of life on board as experienced by the tars or blue-jackets.
The expedition took place 14 years after Darwin published his ideas. The objectives included the investigation of the geology, geography and life forms of the sea and seafloor, but also to find the proof of the theory of evolution, or as it was then known, “descent with modification.” Darwin theorized that on the unchanging ocean floor — the silent landscape — organisms would not have been forced to evolve beyond the form best fitted to that environment millennia ago and, therefore, that the animals of the deep would be evolutionary throwbacks: living fossils. Challenger expedition itself that would overturn the “evolutionary throwback” notion.
One of the first discoveries was of sea lilies, thus proving that the Challenger expedition was fulfilling one of its primary roles: testing Darwin’s theory that the bottom of the ocean was a haven for life forms found on land only as fossils.
Another find was the deep manganese nodules, comprised of manganese, iron, variable amounts of copper and nickel and trace elements of cobalt, titanium, and aluminum. The expedition was to encounter them not only on the east and west sides of the mid-Atlantic ridge but also in the North Pacific between Japan and the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), in the vicinity of the Sandwich Islands themselves, in their biggest find of all, a 3,000-mile arc of them across the South Pacific from Tahiti to Valparaiso.
Regular sounding revealed new depths to the ocean and the existence of a mid-Atlantic plateau. These clues led Wegener to propose that the present-day continents must have — some 200 million year ago — been fused into a single supercontinent.
The Scientifics had discovered one of the most fundamental properties of the ocean, the calcite compensation depth (CCD). The acidity of the ocean increases with depth and there is a level in the ocean where the water becomes sufficiently acidic to dissolve away calcium carbonate, the primary constituent of the animal shells. The CCD is one of the most important and fundamental properties of the deep ocean.
As Challenger travelled around the world, the expedition’s artist, J. J. Wild, had plenty time to draw pictures of the foraminifera that are the main component of Globigerina ooze. no one could have believed that these tiny creatures would, within a century, become vitally important for deciphering the details of our planet’s climatic and oceanographic history.
While the expedition studied a variety of sealife, new findings were also made on land, including the lungfish in Australia. Moseley found the Peripatus, the missing link between the Annelids and the Arthropods. The author talks of the Burgess Shales. "To put it loosely, Hallucigenia was nothing but an armored Peripatus."
The sea bottom was of interest. They noted that Pteropod ooze seemed to predominate at the shallowest depths, down to about 400 fathoms; that the white Globigerina ooze extended down to a depth of about 1,500 fathoms, where the transition to the gray ooze began to occur; and that the gray ooze in its turn gave way to the zone of red clay at a depth of about 2,200 fathoms.
They investigated the strange anomaly in the thermal structure of the North Atlantic known as the Gulf Stream, the width of the stream being fully 60 miles and at least 8°F (4°C) warmer than the waters on either side.
The expedition travelled toward the Great Southern Ice Barrier, where they found that mixing of water masses in the Southern Ocean is profound and continuous. Upwelling caused by the water racing around the coast of Antarctica brings to the surface nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates, which fuel the extraordinary biological fecundity of the seas there.
While Corfield includes some detail of the ship's travels and work, the voyages are used largely as a springboard for narratives on various topics of oceanography. For example, when the ship reaches St. Thomas, he diverts to a narrative on the Devils Triangle and to whether to methane hydrates may have a role in the various disappearances. However, he does a good job of this material on subsequent oceanic discoveries, and they add to the variety and interest of the book.
January 20, 2013
As a boy in the fifties, I enjoyed reading about voyages of discovery and exploration of the western hemisphere during the sixteenth century (although I didn't like the violence). In the sixties the discovery and exploration of space was happening right there on the television screen. Now, in my retirement, I am enjoying the tales of exploration and discovery that I had overlooked earlier.
This was one of the first that I had read. The book is written to an adult audience, but I felt like a teenager when I read it, as it went through what life was like on one of the first research ships.
This was one of the first that I had read. The book is written to an adult audience, but I felt like a teenager when I read it, as it went through what life was like on one of the first research ships.
November 26, 2014
I enjoyed this very informative book. The account of the historic voyage was interesting, and the sections that introduced recent developments in oceanography, geology, evolutionary science etc. (based on the Challenger's findings) were relevant too. Personally, I liked the part that dealt with the history of the deep-sea dives best. Recommended.
April 27, 2020
A well-written and informative introduction to the history, and scientific highlights, of oceanography, using the Challenger expedition as a narrative framework. A good idea, which works fairly well for the scientific elements of the book (although the connections are a bit forced in places). Unfortunately most of the non-scientific story of the expedition is rather dull.
October 10, 2024
love the book. Entertaining and informative...It provides the history, and excitement, of an epic voyage. nature. i found this book in a little free library.
January 5, 2013
A great book for anyone interested in biology or evolutionary history. It provides a wealth of information, with great, descriptive writing. Even so, it can get a bit boring at times, so I definitely would not recommend this unless you have a high level of interest in the subject- not just as light reading book.
June 19, 2015
I really wanted to like this book. It has a terrific premise and the historical aspects peaked my interest. However, it was boring and felt like I was back in college.
I don't think it was a good choice on my part.
I don't think it was a good choice on my part.
February 1, 2011
This was great. Now I am thinking of reading Richard Conniff’s The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews