Expeditions and collecting

Pioneers such as Captain Cook and Charles Darwin changed the course of science with their daring voyages. The specimens and natural history artwork that they brought back are still as remarkable and scientifically important today. Discover why Museum collections are so vital to our knowledge of the past, present and future.

Atlantic coccoliths blog

Follow the experiences of two Museum palaeontologists as they sail from Britain to the Falkland Islands to study marine organisms in the south Atlantic.
Collecting and Society

Discover the value of collections to society, as well as how specimens are collected and the surrounding ethical considerations.
Keeping and Caring

How does the Museum organise, preserve and conserve its 60 million life science specimens?
Collecting meteorites in Antarctica

Interview with Sara Russell, Head of Meteoritics and Cosmic Mineralogy. Sara has spent three summers collecting meteorites in Antarctica. Find out what is involved.
Endeavour botanical illustrations

Browse the botanical drawings from onboard HMS Endeavour (1768–1771) – the first voyage devoted exclusively to scientific discovery.
Voyages of discovery

Investigate the voyages of discovery taken by Captain Cook, Charles Darwin, Hans Sloane and other pioneers of scientific exploration.
A boffin's guide to bug-hunting (video)

Find out how nets, traps, bait, cyanide, smoke and sheer determination are vital to Entomologist Nigel Fergusson’s work.
Darwin in the Andes (video)

Take a virtual journey to the lands and peoples of the Andes and discover how shells on a mountaintop inspired Darwin.
The worst journey in the world (video)

In June 1911 three men embarked on an epic Antarctic journey immortalised in Cherry-Garrard's book 'The Worst Journey in the World'.
The HMS Challenger expedition, 1872-1876

Investigate the Challenger's expedition, which launched oceanography and proved that life existed on the deep-sea bed.
Captain Cook's return to the South Seas, 1772-1775

Discover the trials and tribulations faced by Captain Cook on his second Endeavour expedition in search of a southern continent.
The Endeavour voyage across the Pacific, 1768-1771

Find out about Cook’s first journey across the Pacific in search of a southern continent, and the discoveries he and his crew made.
The first fleet collections: Colonisation of Australia

Discover the collections of artists George Raper and Thomas Watling – a unique record of Australia in the late eighteenth century.
Sir Hans Sloane's voyage to Jamaica, 1687-1689

Tony Rice charts Sloane's expedition to Jamaica, a voyage that produced one of the world's most significant natural history collections.