The UK has a long history of ocean exploration, reflected by the Society’s name, and recognising the seminal influence of HMS Challenger’s 1872-6 global voyage.
The Society’s ‘History of Marine Science’ Special Interest Group (SIG) provides a focus and discussion forum for Society members who are interested in researching and preserving the historical roots of all aspects of marine science and technology and of the people, ships, technologies and institutions involved. In addition, many historical observations are now recognised to be of value in documenting how the state of the oceans and the coastal environment have changed due to natural and anthropogenic climate change.
The overall objective of the SIG is :-
To stimulate and sustain interest in the preservation and better understanding of the history of all aspects of marine science and especially of developments made by UK scientists and in UK laboratories and institutes.
If you wish to join this group, please contact http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/ocean-history and click “subscribe”. You will later be asked about the nature of your interest on the work of the SIG.
More Information
The Challenger Society’s name and its origins derive from the expedition that is acknowledged to mark the start of the systematic study of the oceans on a global scale. The scientific legacy of that expedition is found in the samples collected, the many volumes of Challenger Reports and the data they contain and in the extensive published literature about the voyage.
What is perhaps less well recognised is that the history of marine science spans the whole of the intervening 150 years. In particular the period since the 1950s has seen a revolution of our understanding of how the oceans and their complex ecosystems “work” and influence planet earth. Thus, the study of all aspects of how our present-day understanding of the oceans has developed fall within the remit of this SIG.
Methods of operation. The Group’s members use a JISCMail list to communicate by e-mail. They also communicate by online and occasional face-to-face meetings. Many contributions to the Society’s journal “Ocean Challenge” relate to historical aspects of marine science. The group’s interests are complemented by those of the Royal Meteorological Society’s SIG covering meteorology and physical oceanography. The two SIGs co-sponsored the November 2018 meeting “From HMS Challenger to Argo and beyond”.
Activities of the group’s members include, but are not confined to:-
– Encouraging research into the development of and contributions by UK marine laboratories and institutions.
– The analysis and re-interpretation of historical data and samples
– Ensuring that such data and samples are preserved and made accessible to researchers.
– The study of the development of historical instrumentation and observing platforms
– Researching and documenting the lives of those who have contributed to the development of UK marine science.
– Promoting the effective management and adequate resourcing of archives relating to marine science.
– The SIG organises online talks on a wide variety of topics. Recordings of past talks can be accessed here.
| Date | Topic | Speaker | Afilliation |
| 15 Jan 2025 | Remembered Lives The Remarkable Seamen of the Challenger Expedition. | Philip Pearson | Independent Researcher |
| 19 Feb 2025 | The Loch Ness Monastery A tale of Edwardian scientists and monks | Dave Bowers | University of Bangor |
| 19 Mar 2025 | From Swallow floats to Argo The development of a key part of the ocean observing system | John Gould | Emeritus Fellow NOC Southampton |
| 16 Apr 2025 | Snippets of Autosub History A tasting menu | Gwyn Griffiths MBE | Independent researcher. |
| 21 May 2025 | Using Citizen Science to Rescue Historical Tide Gauge Data (recording available upon request) | Jo Williams | NOC, Liverpool |
| 17 Sep 2025 | The Wake of HMS Challenger | Gillen D’Arcy Wood | Univ. Illinois Urbana -Champaign USA |
Resources and web sites
Many documents and artefacts relating to the development of ocean science are held in national and institutional archives, among the most important of which are :-
• Science Museum London and Wroughton (Search e.g. “oceanography”)
• Royal Museums Greenwich (Search e.g. “Challenger”)
• National Oceanographic Library Southampton
• History of the UK National Institute of Oceanography
Publications
The following are examples of publications on the history of marine science by past and present members of the Society.
• Rice, A.L. (1986). British Oceanographic Vessels, 1800-1950. The Ray Society.
• Deacon, M. (1997). Scientists and the Sea, 1650–1900: A Study of Marine Science (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315243610
• Laughton, A.S.; Gould, J.; Tucker, M.J.; Roe, H., (eds.) (2010). Of Seas and Ships and Scientists: The Remarkable History of the UK National Institute of Oceanography 1949-1973. Cambridge, Lutterworth Press, 128-139, 360pp.
• Robinson, S. (2018). Ocean Science and the British Cold War State. London: Palgrave Macmillan, UK. 10.1007/978-3-319-73096-7.
• Griffiths, Gwyn (2020). Fifty years and counting: Applications of AUVs in the polar regions. In 2020 IEEE/OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Symposium (AUV) (pp. 1-6). IEEE. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9267951
• Woodworth, Philip L. (2020). Tide prediction machines at the Liverpool Tidal Institute. Hist. Geo Space Sci., 11, 15–29, https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-11-15-2020.
• Pearson, Philip (2021). A Challenger’s Song: the Challenger expedition and the life of a crewman, Charlie Collins. Austin Macauley. https://a-challengers-song.co.uk/
• Jones, Erika. (2022). The Challenger Expedition: Exploring the Ocean’s Depths. London: Royal Museums Greenwich, 2022. 224 pp. $37.50 (paper), ISBN 9781906367978.
• Gould, W. J. (2022). HMS Challenger and SMS Gazelle – their 19th century voyages compared, Hist. Geo Space Sci., 13, 171–204, https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-13-171-2022, 2022.
• Woodworth, Philip L.; Vassie, John M. (2022). Reanalyses of Maskelyne’s tidal data at St. Helena in 1761. Earth System Science Data, 14 (9). 4387-4396. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4387-2022
• Gould, W John (2023). Pen portraits of Presidents – Prof. Henry Charnock, CBE, FRS. Weather, 78(10)
• Griffiths, G. (2024). AUVs Under Ice: A Four-Decade Retrospective on Strategy and Risk Through the Autosub Looking Glass. Marine Technology Society Journal, 58(1-2), pp.38-51. https://doi.org/10.4031/MTSJ.57.5.2