Able Seaman George Winstone: Three Historic Journeys

History of Geo- and Space Sciences

This paper analyses the pioneering global voyages of HMS Challenger and SMS Gazelle in the 1870s-a time of rapid scientific advances and technological innovation. The voyage of Challenger has become well known as marking the start of the global-scale science of oceanography. The voyage of the Gazelle is much less well known despite the two voyages ending in the same year, 1876, and having similar geographical and scientific scope. Rather than focussing on the scientific achievements, the paper concentrates on how the expeditions were planned and executed, the lives and characters of the personnel involved, and the underlying motivation behind the voyages. The paper presents the author's translations of key elements of the Gazelle reports as a means of introducing the Gazelle expedition to an English-speaking readership.

This paper analyses the pioneering global voyages of HMS Challenger and SMS Gazelle in the 1870sa time of rapid scientific advances and technological innovation. The voyage of Challenger has become well known as marking the start of the global-scale science of oceanography. The voyage of the Gazelle is much less well known despite the two voyages ending in the same year, 1876, and 10 having similar geographical and scientific scope. Rather than focussing on the scientific achievements, the paper concentrates on how the expeditions were planned and executed, the lives and characters of the personnel involved and the underlying motivation behind the voyages. The paper presents the author's translations of key elements of the 15 Gazelle reports as a means of introducing the Gazelle expedition to an English-speaking readership. Britain and India. (Bell, 1965) 3. Its opening in 1865 was a major event and presented an opportunity for 55 a meeting of the world's maritime powers. In June 1870 a new era dawned as the final connection was made in a telegraph cable linking Britain to India. (By the mid-1860s transatlantic telegraph messages could be transmitted at 8 words per minute). Laying and maintaining submarine cables brought about a growth in what we now call marine 60 technology. Brunel's ship, the Great Eastern, had had an uneconomical life as a transatlantic passenger ship from 1859 to 63 but in 1865 was converted for cable laying, a task she continued to carry out until she was laid up in 1874. Ships with suitable steam powered winches were needed to deploy the submarine cables and to recover them if they failed. Critically, knowledge was needed of ocean depths, not just close to land but along the entire cable routes, and of the nature of the sea bed. 65 Many years of seafaring had resulted in the accumulation of a great deal of knowledge about the oceans' waves and currents. These were systematically analysed and summarised in Maury's "Physical Geography of the Sea" (Maury, 1855), an initiative perhaps in part stimulated by Benjamin Franklin's study of the Gulf Stream and Timothy Folger's map (Richardson, 1980) published in 1778 and by 70 James Rennell's (Rennell, 1832) posthumously-published study of ocean currents. Safe access to ports depended on knowledge of the state of the tides and during the 19 th century the number of places with systematic tidal observations, mostly in Europe and North America, grew. The understanding of tidal theory increased to the point where a tidal prediction machine could be built by 75 Sir William Thomson in 1872. (Cartwright, 1999). However, below the surface the oceans remained unexplored and unknown save for the discoveries made a small number of pioneering voyages, notably the researches of Carpenter, Jeffreys and Wyville Thomson on HMSs Lightning and Porcupine in 1869 and summarised by Wyville Thomson (1873). 80 The large-scale understanding of terrestrial geological features was at that time encapsulated in the various works of Charles Lyell between 1830 and 1868 and notably his "Principles of Geology" (Lyell, 1830-68). The development of the understanding of the terrestrial and coastal flora and fauna had been published in Darwin's Origin of the Species (Darwin, 1859). 85

Polar Research, 2009

The Journal of the Orders and Medals Research Society, 2001

Book review by Glenn M. Stein, FRGS

The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord

The balance of Haarr's stories start with more general descriptions of submarine construction, operation, and life of those who manned them followed by briefer stories, often with quotations from diaries, logs or messages of exploits when on patrol. These vary from offensive operations off the still neutral or Allied European coasts, Heligoland, to the occupation of the Low Countries and northern France. Almost every operation, whether offensive, resulting in successful attacks or minelaying, RN or Polish and French patrols, are supported by frequent, clear photographs of Allied or enemy ships and crews, many with expanded cut-lines, maps of locales or even drawings of equipment on board. Quotations from crew members lends a sense of realism and immediacy. His twenty-eight pages of notes and references are more than just that, with many expanding on the reference and its relevance, a welcome change for the interested reader. The somewhat hard first winter of the war played a part for the submariners, as did neutral Norwegian and Danish fishermen, again illustrated by supporting photos. Haarr gives a useful assessment of the various classes and sizes of RN boats and their several Allied companions, such that we have an understanding of what subjective attack and defensive moves were controlled by the commanding officers. In the 18 months covered by this book, twenty s/m were lost in total, with losses attributed across the spectrum, four or five with uncertainty to this day: German submarines-4; to collision-1; to aircraft-2; and five each to enemy surface vessels or mines, several of these being either/or. Many patrols are described day-by-day once the area of operation was entered-North Sea, Bay of Biscay, or the Baltic. Others, particularly those involving minelaying-a frequent occupation-are more general, although frequently enlivened by quotations. Crews faced many hazards as they learned their jobs, capabilities, and dangers. Despite its 450 pages, this book is well worth shelf space for those interested in the submarine game.