Founders of marine science in Britain: the work of the early Fellows of the Royal Society

Abstract

Abstract On 25 March 1663 John Evelyn recorded in his diary: ‘to our Society, where was an account of severall Experiments made lately at Sea by our President & other members a fortnight before’ (1). Why were the early Fellows of the Royal Society interested in the sea and what did they hope to discover? It was during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that the importance of the sea to the British people was made clear. They became dependent on shipping both for defence and for economic development. W hen they established trading posts and colonies in distant lands all communications had to be made by sea and soon merchant ships were sailing regularly over oceans where only an occasional bold sailor had previously ventured to challenge the monopoly of other nations. At the same time British explorers were searching for new routes and fresh opportunities for trade. These developments stimulated interest in subjects connected with shipping. At the beginning of the seventeenth century navigation was being studied by many British mathematicians though satisfactory ways of determining longitude were not perfected until the eighteenth century (2). The continued difficulty of fixing a ship’s position in the open sea made precise observations difficult but sailors learned to take advantage of the prevailing winds and currents. They had reached a high degree of proficiency in navigating coastal waters and this knowledge was gradually extended to new lands. In 1612 Henry, Prince of Wales, commanded Sir Thomas Button to record during his exploration

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