HMS Lightning (1823)

Last updated October 27, 2024

HMS Lightning, launched in 1823, was a paddle steamer, one of the first steam-powered ships on the British Royal Navy List. She served initially as a packet ship, but was later converted into an oceanographic survey vessel.^[1]

In 1835, Lightning was surveying in the Irish Sea under the command of Edward Belcher.^[2]^: 221 In 1836 she took part in trials conducted by Professor Barlow in the Thames Estuary to measure speed and coal consumption at different steam pressures. At lower pressures speed was reduced, but fuel economy improved, increasing range.^[3]

From 1854-1855, during the Crimean War, Lightning under the command of Bartholomew Sulivan, was engaged in reconnaissance and survey work in the Baltic. The narrow channels around the Åland Islands had never been properly surveyed, and Lightning carried out this work, and then guided the squadron carrying troops to the landing site for the successful assault on the fortress of Bomarsund in August 1854.^[2]^{: 275–280}

From 1865-67, Lightning was commanded by Captain E.J. Bedford surveying on the west coasts of Great Britain.^[1] She was then made available to Charles Wyville Thomson and William Benjamin Carpenter for a deep-water dredging survey in the north Atlantic in 1868. This was the first of a series of scientific voyages. The later ones were in HMS Porcupine. Thomson and Carpenter had received support from the Royal Society for deep-sea explorations to test the idea of Edward Forbes that there was no life—an azoic zone—in the oceans below a few hundred fathoms. The Royal Society persuaded the Admiralty to provide a ship, Lightning for this purpose.^[4]

The voyage of Lightning in August and September 1868, under the command of Commander W.H. May, was beset by bad weather, compounded by Lightning now being an old ship. Nonetheless, important discoveries were made. The deepest dredgings, at 650 fathoms (1,190 m), found evidence of animal life. Measurements of temperature dispelled the previous idea of a constant 4°C at great depths, with both colder and warmer temperatures found, suggesting deep ocean currents. Many previously unknown species were found. These findings led to continued support from the Royal Society and the Admiralty for further deep-sea exploration.^[4]^[2]^: 322^[1]

Lightning was then employed in surveying the west coast of Great Britain under the command of J. Richards. She was broken up in 1872.^[1]

Related Research Articles

The Challenger expedition of 1872–1876 was a scientific programme that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography. The expedition was named after the naval vessel that undertook the trip, HMS Challenger.

Vice-Admiral Sir George Strong Nares was a Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. He commanded the Challenger Expedition, and the British Arctic Expedition. He was highly thought of as a leader and scientific explorer. In later life he worked for the Board of Trade and as Acting Conservator of the River Mersey.

Ten ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Lightning.

Sir Charles Wyville Thomson was a Scottish natural historian and marine zoologist. He served as the chief scientist on the Challenger expedition; his work there revolutionized oceanography and led to his being knighted.

The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) is the UK's agency for providing hydrographic and marine geospatial data to mariners and maritime organisations across the world. The UKHO is a trading fund of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and is located in Taunton, Somerset, with a workforce of approximately 900 staff.

HMS Challenger was a Pearl-class corvette of the Royal Navy launched on 13 February 1858 at the Woolwich Dockyard. She served the flagship of the Australia Station between 1866 and 1870.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Murray (oceanographer)</span> British oceanographer, marine biologist and limnologist

Sir John Murray was a pioneering Canadian-born British oceanographer, marine biologist and limnologist. He is considered to be the father of modern oceanography.

Sir George Henry Richards was Hydrographer of the Royal Navy from 1863 to 1874.

Vice Admiral Sir Henry Mangles Denham was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station.

Thomas Henry Tizard was an English oceanographer, hydrographic surveyor, and navigator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pelham Aldrich</span> Royal Navy Admiral

Admiral Pelham Aldrich was a Royal Navy officer and explorer, who became Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth Docks.

The era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment. Maritime expeditions in the Age of Discovery were a means of expanding colonial empires, establishing new trade routes and extending diplomatic and trade relations to new territories, but with the Enlightenment scientific curiosity became a new motive for exploration to add to the commercial and political ambitions of the past. See also List of Arctic expeditions and List of Antarctic expeditions.

USC&GS George S. Blake, in service 1874–1905, is, with the U.S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross, one of only two US oceanographic vessels with her name inscribed in the façade of the Oceanographic Museum, Monaco due to her being "the most innovative oceanographic vessel of the Nineteenth Century" with development of deep ocean exploration through introduction of steel cable for sounding, dredging and deep anchoring and data collection for the "first truly modern bathymetric map of a deep sea area."

Thomas Graves was an officer of the Royal Navy and naturalist who worked extensively as a surveyor in the Mediterranean.

Ocean dredging was an oceanography technique introduced in the nineteenth century and developed by naturalist Edward Forbes. This form of dredging removes substrate and fauna specifically from the marine environment. Ocean dredging techniques were used on the HMS Challenger expeditions as a way to sample marine sediment and organisms.

The Azoic hypothesis is a superseded scientific theory proposed by Edward Forbes in 1843, stating that the abundance and variety of marine life decreased with increasing depth and, by extrapolation of his own measurements, Forbes calculated that marine life would cease to exist below 300 fathoms.

Aeginina is a genus of amphipods in the family Caprellidae. There are at least 2 described species in Aeginina.

HMS Porcupine was a Royal Navy 3-gun wooden paddle steamer. It was built in Deptford Dockyard in 1844 and served as a survey ship. It was first employed in the survey of the Thames Estuary by Captain Frederick Bullock.

Edward Killwick Calver was a Captain in the Royal Navy, and hydrographic surveyor. He is particularly noted for his surveying work in the east of Britain, and as the captain of HMS Porcupine, in oceanographic voyages in 1869 and 1870.

Richard Hoskyn (1811–1873) was a Royal Navy officer and hydrographic surveyor. He discovered the site of Ancient Kaunos in what is now southern Turkey, surveyed much of the coast of Ireland, carried out deep-sea sounding in preparation for the laying of telegraphic cables, and became superintendent of charts for the UK Admiralty.

References

1 2 3 4 Rice, A. L. (1986). British Oceanographic Vessels, 1800-1950. Ray Society. pp. 97–100. ISBN 978-0-903874-19-9.
1 2 3 Ritchie, George Stephen (1967). The Admiralty Chart: British Naval Hydrography in the Nineteenth Century. Hollis & Carter. OCLC 1082888087.
↑ Barlow, Peter (1837). "Steam-boat Experiments - On the reduction of steam-power". The Nautical Magazine: 9–10.
1 2 Thomson, C. Wyville (1873). The Depths of the Sea. London: MacMillan.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Rice1986-1] 1 2 3 4 Rice, A. L. (1986). British Oceanographic Vessels, 1800-1950. Ray Society. pp. 97–100. ISBN 978-0-903874-19-9.

[Ritchie1967-2] 1 2 3 Ritchie, George Stephen (1967). The Admiralty Chart: British Naval Hydrography in the Nineteenth Century. Hollis & Carter. OCLC 1082888087.

[3] Barlow, Peter (1837). "Steam-boat Experiments - On the reduction of steam-power". The Nautical Magazine: 9–10.

[THOMSON-4] 1 2 Thomson, C. Wyville (1873). The Depths of the Sea. London: MacMillan.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]