Early Voyages Of The Polynesians, Vikings, and Chinese
Every single ancient civilizations had different motives for traveling and exploring the seas whether it was for food or expansion reason these civilizations did it very efficiently. The Polynesians were quickly overcrowding the islands and areas that they had already occupied, which made resources scarce. They traveled afar to discover new islands, as far away as Hawaii, so that they could have greater resources and space. The Vikings accidentally discovered North America from being blown way off course in violent storms. The Greeks were the first Europeans to become sea explorers, looking to expand their empire. The Chinese, under Zheng He, traveled afar in vast fleets, simply to give away treasure to attain the friendship of other countries from far away.
Record Keeping and Cartography
The importance for recording keeping is to allow people to learn from past mistakes and to have the record for further research or as a good example for travel such as a map. It allows other members of that civilization to both study the findings and discoveries of explorers, and for other peoples to travel back to newly discovered lands. If maps were never kept of far off lands, consistently finding them would be extremely difficult for people who have never been there before, or even for accidental discoverers.
Major Contributions from Prince Henry, Magellan and Columbus
Three explorers in particular have made incredible contributions to marine science. Prince Henry established a center at Sagres specifically for the study of marine science and navigation. Magellan was the first to circumnavigate the globe. Columbus accidentally "discovered" the new world while seeking western passage to India.
Captain James Cook
Captain James Cook was sent on three specific voyages, charting and making maps of the areas he traveled as he went. The first voyage was to observe the movement and orbit of the planet Venus. The second voyage was a quest to look for the fabled continent of Antarctica, which he was never able to reach. The third voyage he taveled up the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and in such he had "discovered" Hawaii.
United States Exploration Expeditions
Charles Wilkes (below)
Lead by Charles Wilkes , the US felt that it was being left behind in marine science, and so founded the USEE expeditions. The main objective of the expeditions were to find new marine animals and to chart unknown waters. While it was rather successful, Wilkes' not-so-agreeable personality did not help the foundations funding.
H.M.S Challeger
The challenger was a British ship, who's specific goal was to expand on marine science. It was the first sailing expedition exclusively for marine science, observing many plants and animals of the sea. It's findings were so fast, that the information it recovered were published in 50 volumes of books, some of which are still used today. The expedition, however, would turn out to be a one time voyage.
Oceanographic Instituestions
The first land-based laboratory was in Naples, Italy. William Ritter wanted an oceanographic institution for the US, and with the help of EW Scripps and Browning Scripps, made the 1st institution in San Diego. Later, in Cape Cod on the other side of the States, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was founded, which had immense growth during WWII.
Benefits from Marine Science
I feel that the Ocean Exploration is important for me because as a Surfer there is no limit to the amount of waves that could be surfed and with new found knowledge of the physical side of oceanography that can help us better understand the way waves work and how the conservation of coral reefs is important to us surfers. Disciplines within these areas range from biogeochemistry, biogeography, coastal geography, environmental science, geophysics, glaciology, hydrography, hydrology, limnology to meteorology. Each of these different branches of marine science focus on very specific and individual aspects of the oceans, from it's geographical layout, to the life that lives within it, to it's currents and physical properties.