---
title: "European and American voyages of scientific exploration"
chunk: 10/11
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

==== 1860: HMS Bulldog ====
An oceanographic survey in HMS Bulldog for the laying of a submarine telegraph cable in the North Atlantic.

Captain: Francis Leopold McClintock (1819–1907)
Naturalist: George Charles Wallich (1815–1899)
Publication: The North Atlantic Sea – Bed; comprising a diary of the voyage on board H. M. S. Bulldog, in 1860, and observations on the presence of animal life, and the formation and nature of organic deposits, at great depths in the ocean. (1862).

==== 1862: Arctic expedition of Krusenstern ====

Arctic expedition of two ships, MV Iermak and MV Embrio in order to discover the Yenissei river delta, resulted in shipwreck in the Kara Sea.

Captain: Paul Theodor von Krusenstern
Publication: Naufrage du lieutenant Krusenstern dans les glaces de la mer de Kara (1863, in Le Tour du monde Volume 8 pp. 203–208)

==== 1865–68: Magenta ====
An Italian circumnavigation of the globe that made important scientific observations in South America. The purpose of the trip was also to establish diplomatic relations with China and Japan, but without success. De Filippi set out in 1866 on a government-sponsored scientific voyage to circumnavigate the globe. The ship, the Italian warship Magenta, sailed under the command of Vittorio Arminjon, departing Montevideo on 2 February 1866. It reached Naples on 28 March 1868. However, De Filippi himself died en route at Hong Kong, on 9 February 1867, from serious dysentery and liver problems. The scientific report was completed by his assistant, Professor Enrico Hillyer Giglioli. Giglioli returned to Italy in 1868.

Captain: Vittorio Arminjon (1830–1897)
Naturalists: Filippo de Filippi (1814–1867) and Enrico Hillyer Giglioli (1845–1909)
Publications: E.H. Giglioli, Note intorno alla distribuzione della Fauna Vertebrata nell oceano prese durante un viaggio intorno al Blobo. (1870) and Viaggio intorno al globo della r. pirocorvetta italiana ″Magenta″ negli anni 1865-66-67-68, sotto it comando del capitano di fregata V. f. Arminjon. Relazione descrittiva e scientifica pubblicata sotto gli auspici del ministero di Agricoltura, industria e commercio dal dottore Enrico Hillyer Giglioli… Con una introduzione etnologica di Paolo Mantegazza. (Milan, 1875).

==== 1865: HMS Curacoa ====
An expedition embarked in Curacoa leaving Sydney in June 1865 to explore the Pacific Islands. One of the objectives is to punish the inhabitants of the islands of Tanna for mistreating a missionary.

Captain: Sir William Wiseman, 8th Baronet (1814–1874)
Naturalist: Julius Lucius Brenchley (1816–1873)
Publication: J.L. Brenchley, Jottings during the cruise of H.M.S. Curoçoa among the south sea islands in 1865. (London, 1873). Collections by Brenchley are handled by various specialists as George Robert Gray (1808–1872) for Albert Günther (1830–1914) birds to fish and reptiles.

==== 1868 and 1869–70: HMS Lightning and HMS Porcupine ====
Two British oceanographic expeditions in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.

Captains: Captain May (Porcupine), Killwick Calver (1813–1892) (Lightning).
Naturalists: Sir Charles Wyville Thomson (1830–1882) and Philip Herbert Carpenter (1813–1885)
Publication: The Depths of the Sea: An Account of the General Results of the Dredging Cruises of H.M.SS. Porcupine and Lightning during the summers of 1868, 1869, and 1870, Under the Scientific Direction of Dr. Carpenter, J. Gwyn Jeffreys, and Dr. Wyville Thomson.

==== 1873–76: HMS Challenger ====

The celebrated Challenger Expedition was a grand tour of the world covering 68,000 nautical miles (125,936 km), organised by the Royal Society in London in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh. Charles Thomson was the leader of a large scientific team.

Captains: George Nares (1873 and 1874) and Frank Tourle Thomson (1875 and 1876)
Naturalists: Charles Wyville Thomson (1830–1882), Henry Nottidge Moseley (1844–1891) and Rudolf von Willemoes-Suhm (1847–1875)
Oceanographers: John Young Buchanan (1844–1925) and John Murray (1841–1914)
Publications: C.W. Thomson, Report on the scientific results of the voyage of HMS Challenger during the years 1873–76… prepared under the superintendence of the late Sir C. Wyville Thomson,... and now of John Murray,... (fifty volumes, London, 1880–1895). H.N. Moseley, Notes by a naturalist on the Challenger (1879). W.J.J. Spry, The cruise of the Challenger (1876).

==== 1875–76: HMS Alert and HMS Discovery ====

The British Arctic Expedition in Alert and Discovery, seeking to establish the geographic and magnetic North Pole.

Captain: George Strong Nares (1831–1915)
Physician-naturalist: Richard William Coppinger (1847–1910) and Edward Lawton Moss
Naturalists: Henry Chichester Hart (1847–1908) and Henry Fielden
Publication: G. Nares, Narrative of a voyage to the Polar Sea during 1875–6 in the ships HMS Alert and HMS Discovery. (London, 1878); translated into French (Paris, 1877).

==== 1881: USRC Thomas Corwin ====

Several expeditions were conducted in the Bering Sea in 1881 to find the Jeannette and two whaling ships. Wrangel Island was discovered and made part of the United States in August 1881 with the landing of famed explorer John Muir and the crew of U. S. Revenue Marine ship Thomas Corwin under the command of Captain Calvin Leighton Hooper. The landing at the mouth of the Clark River was illustrated by Muir in his book The Cruise of the Corwin. Two weeks after the Corwin took possession, USS John Rodgers conducted a complete survey of the island, which turned out to equal the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

Captain: Calvin Leighton Hooper
Naturalist: Edward William Nelson (1855–1934)
Explorer: John Muir (1838–1914)
Publication: Muir, J. The Cruise of the Corwin.

==== 1882–83: La Romanche ====
The French Navy frigate La Romanche was built for a French multidisciplinary expedition on a scientific mission to Tierra del Fuego. The primary object was to observe and photograph the transit of the planet Venus. The expedition also collected specimens of flora and fauna, and studied local Yahgan indigenous people, with the assistance of local Anglican missionary Thomas Bridges. (See also Romanche Glacier)

Captain: Ferdinand Martial
Officers/photographers: Payen, Doze
Botanists: Émile Bescherelle, Paul Auguste Hariot, Adrien René Franchet, Paul Petit
Doctor/geologist/ anthropologist: Paul Hyades
Ornithologist: Emile Oustalet

==== 1882–85: Vettor Pisani ====
The Vettor Pisani was an Italian naval corvette equipped for scientific exploration.

==== 1886–96: USS Albatross ====