This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Science at Sea: voyages of exploration and the making of marine knowledge, 1837-1843. Sarah Louise Millar Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2017 i Abstract This thesis is about the historical geography of scientific knowledge production at sea. It focuses on three expeditions of exploration and discovery undertaken, respectively, by France, the United States of America, and Britain, that in the late 1830s sailed into the southern oceans. These voyages marked the last such expeditions to travel by sail alone and came before an acknowledged period of specialized interest in investigating the oceans and the marine environment, exemplified by the sailing of HMS Challenger in 1872. The expeditions share a commonality of period and of destination: their study together provides a hitherto overlooked opportunity to analyse practices of experimentation on, and investigation of, the natural history and physical properties of the marine environment that were integral to the construction of scientific knowledge about the oceans at that time. By attention to archival records, personal correspondence, diaries, published travel narratives and representations of marine phenomena in the form of illustrations, sketches, preserved specimens and displays of numerical material, this thesis examines quotidian shipboard practices to show how the production of scientific ‘facts’ was a matter of constant negotiation between people, weather, instruments and vessels – that occurred as a by-product of the running of the ship as well as of more defined programmes of study by civilian naturalists and naval staff. Informed by work in the history of science, Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT), this thesis highlights how attending to practice in the ambiguous, heterotopic space that was the expedition vessel can reveal the origins of a new, specialized, discipline: what I call here a proto-oceanography. This covers those scientific practices undertaken primarily at sea and from the ship: depth measurement, sea temperature and chemistry, the height of waves, collection of marine specimens and coastal topography, but not those primarily land-based activities such as astronomy, meteorology and terrestrial magnetism. By focusing on work carried out on board ii ship rather than on land, this thesis offers new insights into the practices of marine investigation and experimentation and the complexities of interrogating a space which was visualised primarily through instruments. This thesis examines how at-sea cultures of collection, measurement and representation can inform geographically nuanced analyses of the production of scientific knowledge. iii Acknowledgements I would like, above all, to thank Charlie Withers for his patient, unceasing help with the thesis. It is no overstatement to say without his support this would not be the product it is today. The most poignant aspect of finishing this research is that it brings an end, for now, to our collaboration. Grateful thanks to Fraser Macdonald for offering much needed encouragement and a different, challenging, and rewarding point of view. I acknowledge with sincere thanks the Economic and Social Research Council for providing the funds to begin and complete this PhD. I would also like to thank the University of Edinburgh Centenary fund for a grant to attend the International Historical Geographers Conference in Prague, the British Society for the History of Science for a travel grant to present at the Three Societies conference in Edmonton, and the Historical Geography Research Group for small grants to help with attending conferences elsewhere. This thesis would not have been possible without the assistance and guidance of librarians and archivists at a number of institutions: The Wellcome Institute; the National Archives, Kew, The Royal Botanics Gardens, Kew; the National Library of Scotland; the Chateau du Vincennes; The Royal Geographical Society (and IBG); and the Scott Polar Research Institute. To Colin, Oscar, Niall, and Lyra: I hoped to make you proud – you are my constant motivation and my greatest pleasure, always. iv Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has been composed by me and is entirely my own work. No part of this thesis has been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification Sarah Louise Millar February 2017 v Contents Chapter 1 The Mysteries of the Deep: constructing knowledge on the deep seas through expeditionary voyages, 1837-1843. 1 Chapter 2 The Spaces of Scientific Knowledge: Laboratory and Field Site 13 Making space for geographies of scientific knowledge 14 Reassessing the ship in scientific exploration 18 ‘Laboratory Life’ and beyond 21 Credibility, Experimental Procedure and Inscription 30 Shipboard practice: The pursuit of credibility through accurate measurement, experiment, and representation 35 Professionalization of the ship savant 39 Investigating marine science in the mid-nineteenth century through the travel narratives, journals, log books, letters and images of the South Seas expeditions 1837-1843. 41 Chapter 3 Motivating, financing and organising three expeditions to the Southern Oceans in the 1830s 50 Introduction 50 Maritime exploration and science at sea prior to 1837 51 France, America and Britain begin their campaigns: support, funding and institutional guidance c.1837 56 Knowledge and know-how on board ship: reference works, library and instruction guides 73 Outfitting the exploring expeditions 78 Institutional instructions for sailing: controlling the expeditions through science 83 Conclusions 96 Chapter 4 Sampling the South Seas: collecting specimens from the depths 102 Introduction 102 Natural history in the 1830s and the role of collection 104 Scientific instructions relevant to collecting 107 Observation and collection: furthering knowledge of marine life in the southern oceans 113 Death on the expedition vessel 125 Technologies of collection: sounding, dredging and casting the net 132 Relationships on the expedition vessel and the role of private collection 138 vi Conflict over ship-board space and negotiating the Southern Ocean 149 Conclusion 152 Chapter 5 Measurement: Experimentation, Standardization, and Verification 158 Introduction 158 Experiment, accuracy, and precision 159 Instructions relating to measurement 166 Practice at sea: experimenting and measuring on expedition vessels 175 ‘Seeing’ further: sounding the deep ocean and ensuring safe passage 184 The fallibility of instrumentation and impediments to experimentation 192 Conclusion 202 Chapter 6 Representing 209 Introduction 209 Scientific depiction in the nineteenth century and the role of ‘representation’ 211 Recommendations over representing and instructions over shipboard inscriptions 217 Seeing and knowing: coastal and topographical representation and sketching in the field 223 The preparation and preservation of collected material 246 Mapping and surveying 253 Tables and Graphs: transforming of numbers into images 259 ‘Eccentric inscriptions’ 268 Conclusion 271 Chapter 7 Conclusions 277 Introduction 277 Producing knowledge on the marine environment 279 New Spaces 286 Further work 290 Appendix I History of Pacific exploration and other notable maritime expeditions up until c.1835 293 Appendix II Dramatis Personae 301 Appendix III The instruments used for investigating the southern oceans and marine environment 306 vii Appendix IV Instructions relating to investigation of the marine environment from government and scientific institutions 323 viii Figures Figure 1. Pagatodes: the ice-fish (Richardson and Gray) Figure 2. Catching the great penguins (Hooker) Figure 3. Obtaining deep soundings on the British expedition (Hooker) Figure 4. Measuring the maximum height of waves (Wilkes) Figure 5. Map of the Antarctic continent (America) Figure 6. Table of deep-sea soundings (Ross) Figure 7. Cape Davis (J. E. Davis) Figure 7. Capro austalis (Richardson and Gray) Figure 9. Debarquement sur une île des glace (LeBreton) Figure 10. Ice cliffs of the Antarctic barrier (McCormick) Figure 11. Sketch of the Australian coastline (Hooker) ix Figure 12. Baie Fortescue (LeBreton) Figure 13-Crustacea (Richardson and Gray) Figure 14. Entrance of Christmas Harbour (Hooker) Figure 15. Observatoire de Port Famine (LeBreton) Figure 16. Bottle chart of the Atlantic Ocean (Becker) Figure 17. Dried botanical specimens (Hooker) Figure 18. Table of change in temperature of air and sea (Ross) Figure 19. Table of change in temperature at depth (Ross) Figure 20. Table of deep-sea soundings (Ross) Figure 21. Table of change in weight of different materials at depth (Dumont d’Urville) Figure 22. Diagram of