On December 21st 1872, 150 years ago last month, HMS Challenger set off from Portsmouth, UK for a four year voyage around the world. She was heavily modified from her former role as a small warship into a floating laboratory to scientifically explore the oceans. With a small complement of scientists in addition to her crew the Challenger travelled almost 69 000 nautical miles between 1872-76. In last month's Micscape I shared two strews of soundings from the expedition prepared by the sadly late Klaus Kemp and the 20th century mounter Suter.

I enjoy collecting stamps on narrow themes related to my interests and below share the stamps that have come across to date that have designs which present aspects of the expedition. I would welcome information on other issues not presented. There are a wide range of resources on all aspects of the expedition online so links to selected resources are included. The extensive Challenger Reports and additional publications are all in the public domain online.

 



An attractive stamp sheet issued in 1973. Challenger visited the island. A variety of sounding and sampling methods were tried to develop best practice and a selection of samplers are shown. The laboratory shown is the chemical laboratory where seawater analyses were made. This is derived from an engraving in an early Report.



The above engraving from the 'Narrative', Vol. 1 pt. 1 online (public domain on archive.org) shows the zoological laboratory where instruments included microscopes. How many can you see? These are discussed in a splendid article on the Modern Microscopy site 'Far From the Shallows: Taking a Closer Look at Deep Sea Sand' by Charles Zona.



The stamp on this sheet (1997) shows Charles Wyville Thomson (Wikipedia entry), the chief scientist on the Challenger expedition. The rope tassles modification to the dredge was made when it was noticed that some organisms were found clinging to the dredge ropes when brought to the surface.



This set of four stamps issued in 1989 celebrates the life and work of Sir John Murray (Wikipedia entry). He was a naturalist on the voyage and key to the preparation and publication of the remaining Challenger Reports after Wyville Thomson died. Challenger visited Christmas Island.



Stamps with engraved designs (above and below) seem less common nowadays but one of my favourite design types. This cover was postmarked on Crozet island where Challenger visited.



Tristan da Cunha issued 1967.

 

Comments to the author David Walker are welcomed.

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