The Challenger Expedition

The Challenger may have been one of the most important ships in the history of oceanography. It was the first ship to make the sounding of the Marianas Trench, which is a depth of 35,850 feet. Sir Charles Whyville Thompson took his crew on this journey and made 492 deep soundings, 133 dedgings, obtained data from 362 oceanographic stations, and discovered more than 4,700 new species of marine life. Without this expedition, we would have been farther behind in the knowledge of the Earth's oceans and may not know all we know today. Much of the data that was discovered in 1872-1876 when this expedition took place is still being used to study the oceans today.