Dimensions
158 x 242 x 31mm
Though the oceans make up more than two-thirds of the Earth's surface, deep below lies an alien world that even today we have only just begun to explore. The quest to know more about this secret domain began in earnest in 1872 when HMS "Challenger" set sial from Portsmouth.
As the first sea voyage devoted exclusively to science, the "Challenger" expedition is perhaps the greatest oceanographic mission of all time, surpassing even Charles Darwin's celebrated passage aboard the "Beagle". Indeed, among the more important objectives set before the crew of the "Challenger" was the mandate to gather the evidence necessary to prove or refute Darwin's daring new theory of evolution. Put simply, many saw the "Challenger" expedition as the ultimate battle between God and science.
Sailing for three and a half years and almost 69,000 nautical miles, scientists and crew alike braved the stifling heat of the tropics for months on end only to suffer the stupefying cold of the Antarctic, enduring danger on the high seas, risking all in the pursuit of knowledge.
The undertaking was a resounding success. "Challenger" dredged up thousands of samples from the sea bed while mapping enormous areas of underwater terrain. Most startling of all, though, was the revelation that the ocean was not a barren graveyard, but a gloriously complex ecosystem, teeming with life.
Drawing from official documentation and the journals of the ship's scientists and crew, 'The Silent Landscape' recounts the story of this extraordinary voyage. But Richard Corfield also brings a 21st-century perspective to bear on Challenger's research and discoveries, illuminating the science of that 19th-century voyage with the most current oceanographic information available.
As "Challenger" sails from the endangered coral reefs of the Caribbean to the trackless depths beneath the western Pacific, 'The Silent Landscape' take us on an epic journey across time.
