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30,000 BCE
Polynesian Seafarers
About 30,000 years ago, human cultures along the western coastline of the Pacific Ocean started to migrate eastward across the great expanse of the Pacific Ocean. We are not sure exactly why the migrations started, but tribal wars, disease epidemics, the search for food, or even natural disasters such as large volcanic eruptions & earthquakes, may have possibly been factors. -
200 BCE
The Mediterranean Sea
The Greeks had began to venture outside the Mediterranean, past the Straits of Gibraltar at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea. This narrow channel separates Europe from Africa, & also the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean. Just outside of the Straits of Gibraltar, early Greek sailors noticed a strong current running from north to south. Because the sailors had only seen currents in rivers, they thought this great body of water on the other side of the Straits was a very big river. -
Benjamin Franklin Discovers the Gulf Stream
Besides just being a famous statesman & diplomat, Benjamin Franklin was a very well-known American scientist. He had contributed to oceanography in the mid- to late 1700s after making & compiling good observations of ocean currents off the US East Coast. Franklin was the first person to refer to the Gulf Stream as a “river in the ocean." Franklin had also promoted using the Gulf Stream to speed up delivery of mail from America to Europe, as well as to improve other commercial shipping. -
Charles Darwin & the Voyage of the Beagle
In 1831, & also in the teeth of a gale, the HMS Beagle, a British warship, had left Devonport, England, for an expedition to map the South American coastline & also to carry out chronometer surveys all over the globe. Darwin was also fortunate that the Beagle took him to the Galapagos Islands, where he observed various animals & birds that had eventually evolved in an isolated environment. His observations led him to his famous theory of natural selection. -
Mapping Current Patterns in the Oceans
In the mid- to late-1800s, Maury had became the head of the US Navy’s Department of Charts & Instruments—only to discover that the Navy had very few charts of the oceans! Maury realized the books contained a gold mine of information. Maury asked sailors to put messages in bottles, & when the bottles washed ashore, the finders were asked to send Maury a note telling him where they found the bottle. finally, Maury could figure out more detailed ocean current patterns, & add them to his charts -
More Life Found in the Deep Sea
A man by the name of Charles Wyville Thomson, found that there was much more life in the sea than previously recorded, originally being told that life in the sea ends at about 549 meters deep, (1800 feet) finding out that there is actually more life, all the way down to 4,389 meters deep. (14,400 feet) -
The Challenger Expedition
Modern oceanography had actually began with the Challenger Expedition between 1872 & 1876. It was the very first expedition organized specifically to gather data on a wide range of ocean features, including ocean temperatures seawater chemistry, currents, marine life, & the geology of the seafloor. -
The Oceans as Battlefield
The oceans have always played a big role in wars. Ships transported both armies & supplies, blockaded harbors, besieged cities, & even attacked enemy ships doing the same things. But the Civil War helped launch a stealthy new seagoing weapon that became common in 20th century warfare—submarines. -
Continental Drift & Seafloor Spreading
Geologists had thought that Earth’s surface hadn’t changed much since the planet formed just about 4.6 billion years ago, & they had believed that the oceans & continents were always where they are now. But less than 100 years ago, a German scientist named Alfred Wegener had took notice of some interesting findings. Similar plant & animal fossils were found in both Africa & South America & on other continents separated by oceans. Similar rock formations were also found on distant continents. -
Ocean Drilling
Oceanographers had been able to collect both sediment & rock samples from the ocean bottom ever since the Challenger Expedition. But they didn't have the technology to enable them to probe very far beneath the seafloor. In 1968, an international group of oceanographic institutions & the U.S. National Science Foundation had created a program of ocean drilling. Its initial goal was to test Tuzo Wilson's hypothesis of plate tectonics.