Scientific expeditions

Of the many scientific expeditions that have come to Madeira, whether to take on fresh provisions for their voyages or to carry out studies on this island, the most important and best known are those listed below:

1755. Bory came to Madeira in this year aboard the Comète, and made some observations here on the variation of the compass needle. 1764. On 13 July of this year the ships Dolphin and Tamar arrived in the harbour of Funchal, carrying the expedition led by Commodore John Byron, which set out to discover new lands between the Cape of Good Hope and the Strait of Magellan. The expedition merely took on some fresh provisions. 1766. On 7 September the Dolphin, the Swallow and the Prince Frederick anchored in the harbour of Funchal, carrying the expedition commanded by Captain Samuel Wallis, which included among its officers Philip Carteret, a companion of Byron. The expedition merely replaced here the provisions it had already used up. 1768. It was on 13 September of this year that the scientific expedition commanded by the celebrated English navigator James Cook reached Madeira, on its way to observe the transit of Venus across the disc of the Sun on the island of Tahiti. The expedition included the naturalists Joseph Banks and Dr Daniel Solander and the astronomer Charles Green, and the first two carried out various scientific studies on this island. The Endeavour, which carried the expedition, left the harbour of Funchal on 19 September. 1772. On the second voyage that Captain Cook made in the southern seas, he called at Madeira on 19 July of this year aboard the Resolution. The naturalists Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg, who were members of the expedition, made some botanical observations here. 1785. The scientific expedition commanded by Jean-François Galaup de La Pérouse arrived in Funchal aboard the Boussole and the Astrolabe on 13 August of this year, leaving three days later for the Canary Islands. The expedition included the engineer Monneron, the geographer Bernizet, the surgeon Rollin, the astronomer Lepaute-Dagelet, the physicist Lamanon, the botanist Collignon and the illustrious Monge. The last of these escaped the unhappy fate of his fellow travellers, having gone ashore on Tenerife on 29 August 1785. 1792. The illustrious orientalist Sir John Barrow visited Madeira in this year on his voyage to Cochinchina. 1816. The English scientific expedition under the command of Captain James Kingston Tuckey came within sight of Madeira on 31 March of this year, and encountered a great number of turtles (Testudo caretta) sleeping on the surface of the water. 1838. On 16 September of this year a small American squadron arrived in Funchal, made up of the Porpoise, the sloops Vincennes and Peacock and the schooners Sea-Gull and Flying-Fish, under the command of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes. The scientists aboard these ships measured the height of Pico Ruivo (‘russet peak’) and made some geological observations here, leaving Madeira on 25 September. 1839. The English ships Erebus and Terror, under the command of James Clark Ross and Francis Rawdon Crozier, visited Madeira in October of this year. Their officers measured the height of Pico Ruivo and made magnetic observations at Cape Verde, St Helena and the Cape of Good Hope before heading for the Antarctic regions and the other countries they explored. 1857. In June of this year the Austrian frigate Novara, commanded by Commodore Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair, was at Madeira on a voyage round the world. The expedition’s scientists measured the height of Pico Ruivo and received a great deal of information from the physician Dr António da Luz Pita, the military engineer Major António Pedro de Azevedo, the botanist João Maria Moniz and the Austrian consul Carlos Bianchi. 1883. In this year a French scientific expedition led by Alphonse Milne-Edwards, charged with carrying out oceanographic studies in the Atlantic, was in Madeiran waters aboard the Talisman. According to Milne-Edwards, there is in this sea an immense volcanic chain parallel to the coast of Africa, of which the islands of Cape Verde, the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores may be the only points not now covered by the waters. (See Atlantis.) 1897. On 12 September of this year the barque Belgica arrived in the harbour of Funchal from Ostend, carrying the Belgian scientific expedition that, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Adrien Gerlache, was bound for the Antarctic regions. The members of the expedition visited Curral das Freiras (‘nuns’ fold’); among them were Lieutenant Danco, in charge of magnetic observations, Dr Artoski, in charge of meteorology and oceanography, and Dr Emil Racoviță, responsible for botany and zoology.

1901. On 15 and 16 August of this year the British steamer Discovery lay at anchor in the harbour of Funchal, bound on a voyage of exploration to the Antarctic regions under the direction of Roberto Scott. As is well known, this navigator was assisted by Wilson and Shackleton in some of the studies and investigations he carried out in those waters.

On 30 August of the same year the German Antarctic expedition, led by Dr Erich von Drygalski, passed within sight of Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) aboard the steamer Gauss. The report of this expedition, published in part in the Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, states ‘that on 31 August, as Madeira was slowly disappearing from view, a splendid firework display rose over Funchal; and we supposed that it was in honour of the English ship Discovery of the South Pole expedition, which had called there that day’. We find this supposition curious, all the more so since the Discovery, as already stated, was not here on 1 August but on the date mentioned above.

1902. In July of this year the ship Morning, commanded by Captain Colbeck, was in the harbour of Funchal. This ship, which carried Dr Wilson, was bound for the Antarctic regions to bring assistance to the Discovery, commanded by Roberto F. Scott.

1903. On 10 September of this year the steamer Le Français arrived in the harbour of Funchal from Brest, carrying the celebrated French navigator Jean-Baptiste Charcot, who, like those before him, intended to explore the Antarctic regions. Jean-Baptiste Charcot remained in those regions until 1905, and the results of the natural history work carried out by the members of the expedition were published by specialists under the direction of L. Joubin.

1908. On 12 September of this year the explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot passed through Madeira for the second time, bound for the Antarctic regions aboard the Pourquoi Pas.

1910. On 23 June 1910 the ship Terra Nova anchored in the harbour of Funchal, carrying the second expedition to explore the Antarctic regions under the direction of Roberto Scott. This explorer, who had been in Madeira some years earlier, was not aboard the Terra Nova, which he joined only later. The Terra Nova, equipped with the best apparatus and supplies required for polar navigation, left the harbour of Funchal on 26 June.

On 6 September of the same year the Norwegian ship Fram anchored in the harbour of Funchal to take on various goods brought by the German steamer Hans Hoermann. The Fram, bound for the Antarctic regions under the direction of Captain Amundsen, left our harbour on the 10th of that month. 1911. During the scientific campaign carried out this year by Prince Albert of Monaco aboard the Hirondelle II, Dr Luís Gain made some collections of marine algae along the coasts of the archipelago. Prince Albert also visited the waters of the archipelago in 1901, 1904, 1912 and in other years, aboard either the Hirondelle or the Princesa Alice, and on one of his voyages he visited Deserta Grande (‘great deserted island’), which he described in his book entitled La Carrière d'un navigateur.

1914. On 27 June of this year the sloop Armaner-Hansen arrived in the harbour of Funchal; aboard it the illustrious Norwegian scientist Fridtjof Nansen made soundings and various oceanographic studies in the Atlantic. The small vessel left Madeira on 28 June, bound for the Azores.

In the same year the British exploration ship Endurance, under the command of Captain Worsley, called at Madeira. It was bound for the South Pole and was to take on board, at Buenos Aires, the well-known man of science Ernest Shackleton. The Endurance, which arrived on 21 August and left on the 25th, spent the 24th at the Desertas (‘deserted islands’), where the expedition’s scientists and the Madeiran naturalist Mr Adolfo César de Noronha carried out various scientific investigations.

1920. On 6 April of this year the Danish yacht Dana entered the harbour of Funchal to take on board Dr Johannes Schmidt, well known for his biological and ichthyological studies, who had arrived in Madeira the previous day on the Almanzora. The Dana left for Tenerife on the 7th, carrying the apparatus and supplies needed for the scientific exploration of the Ocean.

1921. On 16 October of this year the yachts Dana and Quest arrived in the harbour of Funchal. The latter carried the new British expedition, led by Shackleton, bound for the Antarctic; the former carried Dr Johannes Schmidt, director of the ‘Laboratorio Carlesberg’ of Copenhagen, who intended to study the biology and physics of the Ocean north of the Equator.

The scientific staff of the Dana carried out oceanographic explorations north of Porto Santo on the 15th and visited Deserta Grande on the 18th, while those of the Quest made thermometric observations in the sea south of Funchal, at a depth of about 1500 metres, corresponding to the habitat of our black scabbardfish (espada preta).

The Dana left our harbour on the night of the 18th, and the Quest on the 19th, at about half past one in the afternoon.

The scientists of the Danish expedition were accompanied on their trip to the Deserta by the Madeiran naturalist Adolfo de Noronha, and it was at the request of this fellow countryman of ours that the staff of the Quest made the thermometric observations referred to above.

1922. On 6 June of this year the Norwegian ship Harmaner Hansen was in Funchal, carrying a scientific expedition organised by the University of Bergen, whose members included Professors H. Hansen and Damas. The expedition was intended for oceanographic studies.

1923. On 17 May of this year the small French steamer La Tanche, of the scientific and technical fisheries service, arrived in Funchal carrying the scientist Gerard Belloc, of the Lafaille museum in La Rochelle, who intended to carry out research on tuna and tuna fishing. He stayed here for a few days.

1924. At the end of February 1924 the British zoologist James Hornell, former director of the fisheries service of Madras, in India, arrived in Funchal and made various ethnographic studies. He left Madeira on 1 May aboard the ship St. George, which carried a scientific expedition that went on from here to Trinidad and Panama.