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One World, One Ocean

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[<1800s] [1800s] [1900s] [2000s]

  • Red text = Submarines
  • Blue text = Submersibles
  • Green text = Commercial Exploitation
  • Dark blue text = Surface and Subsurface Exploration
  • 1800s

    1818
    Sir John Ross (Jun 24, 1777-Aug 30, 1856) is placed in command of a mission to the Arctic. His orders were to find the Northwest Passage, as well as to take note of the currents, tides, the states of the ice and magnetism, and collect specimens.

    As part of the specimen collection, he lowers a line more than a mile into the North Atlantic and hauls up worms and a large sea star.

    The trip itself ends in ignominy in August, when he reaches Lancaster Sound, Canada, with his two ships, believes that he sees mountains in the distance which he calls Crocker Hills, and does not try to explore further, much to the annoyance of his officers.

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    1834

    Edward Forbes (Feb 12, 1815 - Nov 18, 1854) a British naturalist, spends much of the summer of this year dredging in the Irish Sea, bring up specimens.
    See 1841.

    Bibliography
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    1841

    Edward Forbes (Feb 12, 1815 - Nov 18, 1854) a British naturalist, has published History of British Star-fishes, containing 120 illustrations.

    Bibliography
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    April 17, 1841

    Edward Forbes (Feb 12, 1815 - Nov 18, 1854) a British naturalist, joins the HM Beacon at Malta, a surveying ship from which he investigates the botony, zoology and geology of the Mediterranean region.

    Bibliography
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    1843

    Edward Forbes (Feb 12, 1815 - Nov 18, 1854) a British naturalist, proposes that no substantial life can exist below three hundred fathoms. He does so in a "Report on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Aegean Sea," presented to the British Association.

    He discusses the influence of climate and of the nature and depth of the sea bottom on marine life, and divided the Aegean into eight biological zones, and makes conclusions aboutr bathymetrical distribution.

    Bibliography
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    1847

    Edward Forbes (Feb 12, 1815 - Nov 18, 1854) a British naturalist, publishes with Lieutenant (later Admiral) TAB Spratt a book, Travels in Lycia.

    Bibliography
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    August 5, 1857

    The first attempt to lay the transatlantic telegraph cable, by the Atlantic Telegraph Company, is a failure.

    Bibliography
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    August 5, 1858

    The first transatlantic telegraph cable, from Valentia Island, in Western Ireland, to Trinity Bay, in eastern Newfoundland, is completed. Because of operator error, it will last for only two months.

    Bibliography
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    August 19, 1858

    The first official telegram sent via the transatlantic cable was from Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom to the President of the United States, James Buchanan.

    Bibliography
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    September, 1858

    Wildman Whitehouse, in an attempt to achieve faster telegraph operation with the first transatlantic cable, applies excessive voltage which destroys it. The cable thus lasts less than two months. Public and investor confidence in the project is undermined, and a new attempt to lay a cable will not begin until 1865.

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    1859

    Charls Darwin's (Feb 12, 1809 - Apr 19, 1892) book, On the Origin of Species is published. It implies that the deep is a sanctuary for living fossils.

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    1864

    Norwegians haul up from the deep a sea lily - a living fossil previously found in rocks 120 millions old.

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    1870

    Jules Verne's (Feb 8, 1828 - Mar 24, 905) novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea depicts no life in the ocean's deepest regions.

    Bibliography
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    December 21, 1872

    The British ship Challenger sets sail around the globe while lowering dredges and other gear into the deep, finding long mountain chains, puzzling nodules, and hundreds of animals previously unknown to science. The expedition will last for almost 4 years, until returning back to home port on May 24, 1876.

    Bibliography
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    May 24, 1876

    British ship HMS Challenger having completed her journey around the globe, returns to Spithead.

    Bibliography
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    1892

    Prince Albert I of Monaco (Nov 13, 1832 - Jun 26, 1922) had serve in the Spanish and French navies, and by the age of 22 became interested in oceanography. In this year, he "starts to probe the sea's dark midwaters, discovering new kinds of eels, fish and squid."

    Bibliography
    [1]

    [<1800s] [1800s] [1900s] [2000s]

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