12 '
,
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THE SEAS
dredgings were made -in the great abyss, and nets towed
in the water layers between the Surface—and the bottom.
The information obtained gave work“to a large body of
.
specialists and resulted in the famous “ Challenger
”
reports,
which may he said to f0rm the solid base up0n which the
superstructure. of the science of oceanography has since
been built.
These results placed the science on a sure footing, and
later expeditions went out with a good idea of the conditions
to be expected, so that plans could be laid for special
problems oÏ interest that had to be tackled.
Better
'
instruments were .invented and, most important of all,
wire came into general use replacing the oldbulky ropes,
AgasSiz being the rst to use it on the voyages
of the Blake, from 1877 to 1880.
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Expeditions sailed from many
and since the
time of the Challenger some of the more important were
the
Deep Sea expedition of the Getmans in the Valdivia, and '
thevoyages of the National and Deutschland
the same
country ; the ‘cruises ofthe
the Michael
Sars”, under Professor
and Sir john Murray of
Challenger fame” ; the famous voyages of Captain Scott
and of Sir Ernest Shack_leton, and many others.
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Among the more recent cruiSes have been those of the
"German Cruiser
Which wasengaged in making a
c0mplete surveyofthe ocean bed of the South Atlantic and '
of; itscurrent system, "and of the Danish research vessel
'
Dana, which has circumnavigated the world.
Since 192 5
too; 'oceanographical history has been. made by thealmost
!
continuous Observati0nS of the Falkland Islands Depen—'
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_
dencies* Discovery Expedition in Antarctic watersu'nde'rtaken,_ rst with Captain SCott’s old ship Discovery, and
later with the modem Discovery II andthe .Wz'lliam Scoresby.
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the year,rgox was îormed—whatù kown
the