The research ship had origins in the early voyages of exploration.[1] By the time of James Cook's Endeavour, the essentials of what today we would call a research ship are clearly apparent. In 1766, the Royal Society hired Cook to travel to the Pacific Ocean to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun.[2] The Endeavour was a sturdy boat, well designed and equipped for the ordeals she would face, and fitted out with facilities for her research personnel, Joseph Banks. And, as is common with contemporary research vessels, Endeavour carried out more than one kind of research, including comprehensive hydrographic survey work.
Some other notable early research vessels were HMS Beagle, RV Calypso, HMS Challenger, and the Endurance and Terra Nova.
- ^ Adler, Antony (2014). "The Ship as Laboratory: Making Space for Field Science at Sea". Journal of the History of Biology. 47 (3): 333–362. doi:10.1007/s10739-013-9367-7. PMID 24122291. S2CID 23583607.
- ^ Beazley, Charles Raymond (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 71–72.