[23-Feb-2009] HMS Challenger was a steam-assisted, Royal Navy Pearl-class corvette launched on 13 February 1858 at the Woolwich Dockyard on the river Thames. After serving as the flagship of the Australia Station, the ship was modified for scientific tasks and then used to conduct the first global marine research expedition (the Challenger Expedition). From 1872 to 1876, HMS Challenger sampled the world's ocean - including its salinity - heralding the beginning of oceanography as a science discipline.

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