---
title: "European and American voyages of scientific exploration"
chunk: 9/11
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:11:04.350296+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Captains: Sir James Clark Ross (1800–1862) (Erebus) and Francis Crozier (1796–1848) (Terror)
Physician-naturalist: Robert McCormick (1800–1890), Joseph Hooker (1817–1911), John Robertson, David Lyall (1817–1895)
Publications: J.C. Ross, A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions. (1847), J.E. Gray and John Richardson, The zoology of the Voyage of HM Ships Erebus and Terror (1844–1875). J.D. Hooker, The botany of the Antarctic voyage of HM discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the years 1839–1843 under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. Three volumes: I. Flora Antarctica (1844), II. Flora Novae Zelandiae (1853–1855), III. Flora Tasmaniae (1860).

==== 1841–44: La Favorite ====
A French scientific exploration in the China Sea and Indian Ocean.

Captain: Théogène François Page (1807–1867)
Surgeon-naturalist: Charles René Augustin Léclancher (1804–1857)

==== 1842–46: HMS Fly ====
During the early to mid-1840s, Fly charted numerous trade and other routes between many locations, primarily off Australia's north-east coast and nearby islands. Such islands included Whitsunday Island and the Capricorn Islands. After being discovered during the survey of the Gulf of Papua, New Guinea, the Fly River was named after HMS Fly. For the most of its seaworthy existence, Fly was captained by Francis Price Blackwood.

Captain: Francis Price Blackwood (1809–1854)
Physician-naturalist: Benjamin Bynoe (1804–1865)
Naturalists: Joseph Beete Jukes (1811–1869) and John MacGillivray (1821–1867)
Publication: J.B. Jukes, "Narrative of the surveying voyage of H. M. S. ″Fly″, commanded by captain F. P. Blackwood,... in Torres Strait, New Guinea and other islands of the Eastern Archipelago, during the years 1842–1846, together with an excursion into the interior of the Eastern part of Java" (two volumes, 1847).

==== 1845–47: HDMS Galathea ====
The corvette Galathea was sent out by  King Christian VIII of Denmark, with its main purposes the handover of the Danish colonies in India to the British East India Company, and exploring and possibly recolonising the Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean. Additional aims were the expansion of trade with China and the discovery of new trading opportunities, as well as making extensive scientific collections.

Captain: Steen Andersen Bille
Physician-naturalist: Didrik Ferdinand Didrichsen
Naturalists: Bernhard Casper Kamphǿvener, Carl Emil Kiellerup, Hinrich Johannes Rink, Wilhelm Friedrich Georg Behn and Johannes Theodor Reinhardt.
Artists: Johan Christian Thornam and Poul August Plum.
Publication: Steen Bille, Beretning om Corvetten Galathea's Reise omkring Jorden i 1845, 46 og 47, Universitetsboghandler C. U. Reitzels Forlag, Kjøbenhavn 1853

==== 1846–50: HMS Rattlesnake and HMS Bramble ====

A British expedition to the Cape York and Torres Strait areas of northern Australia.

Captain: Owen Stanley (1811–1850) (Rattlesnake) and Charles Bampfield Yule (Bramble)
Surgeon: John Thomson
Physician-naturalist: Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)
Naturalists: John MacGillivray (1821–1867) and James Fowler Wilcox (1823–1881)
Artist: Oswald Brierly (1817–1894)
Publication: J. MacGillivray, Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake. (1852). Goodman, J. The Rattlesnake: A Voyage of Discovery to the Coral Sea. London: Faber & Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-21078-7 (2006). Goodman, J. Losing it in New Guinea: the voyage of HMS Rattlesnake. Endeavour (Elsevier) 29 (2): 60–65, doi:10.1016/j.endeavour.2005.04.005, PMID 15935857 (2005). J. Huxley, T.H. Huxley's diary of the voyage of HMS Rattlesnake. London: Chatto & Windus (1935).

==== 1851–54: Capricieuse ====
A French expedition circumnavigating the world via Cape Horn, stopping in Tahiti and Ualan to determine an astronomical Meridian intended for future travel in the Pacific, then arriving in China. There, the ship performed several missions of exploration including, in July–August 1852, in the seas of Korea and Japan (then very little known in Europe) and on the coasts of Kamchatkata, completely unknown since the Lapérouse expedition. The Capricieuse then returned to France via the Cape of Good Hope. This was the last French global circumnavigation by sail.

Commander: Commander Gaston de Rocquemaurel (1804–1878)
Second: Navy lieutenant Jules Duroch
Publication: The narrative of the voyage remained unpublished.

==== 1851–53: Eugenie ====

A Swedish natural history excursion, the first Swedish circumnavigation of the world, which contributed to the Capture of Manuel Briones, a robber who seized an American whaler, the George Howland, and who was a terror on the coast of the Ecuador.

Captain: Christian Adolf Virgin (1797–1870).
Physician-naturalist: Johan Gustaf Hjalmar Kinberg (1820–1908)
Naturalist: Nils Johan Andersson (1821–1880)
Publication: N.J. Andersson, Fregatten "Eugenies" resa omkring jorden åren 1851–1853, under befäl af utgifven af, v. a. Virgin v. Skogman ... (Stockholm, 1856).

==== 1852–63: HMS Herald ====

A survey of the Australian coast and Fiji Islands, continuing the mission of HMS Rattlesnake. Following disagreements with the captain, naturalist John MacGillivray disembarks at Sydney in January 1854. Herald was a 500-ton, 28-gun sixth-rate, launched as Termagant in 1822 and renamed in 1824. She served as a survey ship under Henry Kellett and Henry Mangles Denham and was sold in 1864.

Captain: Henry Mangles Denham (1800–1887)
Naturalists: John MacGillivray (1821–1867), William Milne (botanist) and Denis Macdonald as Assistant Surgeon-zoologist.
Publication: Edward Forbes (1815–1854), The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Herald under the command of Captain Henry Kellett,... during the years 1845–51. (London, 1854).

==== 1853–55: USS Vincennes and USS Porpoise ====
(See North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition)
This American expedition explored the coasts of Japan, China, Siberia and Kamchatka before putting in at the Cape of Good Hope and returning to the United States. Porpoise sank in a typhoon in 1854.

Captain: John Rodgers (1812–1882)
Naturalists: William Stimpson (1832–1872) and Charles Wright (1811–1885)
Publication: due to the outbreak of civil war, there is no record of this voyage, scientific discoveries have been published separately from scientific journals.

==== 1857–60: SMS Novara ====

An expedition organized by the Emperor of Austria to demonstrate the power of the Crown. Novara departed Trieste in April 1857, passing the Cape of Good Hope to reach the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand. Fourteen of the forty-four guns were dumped to make more room for the scientific collections.

Captain: Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair (1816–1883)
Naturalists: Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829–1884), Georg von Frauenfeld (1807–1873) and Johann Zelebor (1819–1869).
Publication: Reise der österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den Befehlen Commodore b. von Wüllerstorf-Urbair. (1864–1875)