RRS ''James Cook'' is a British Royal Research Ship operated by the

Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British Research Councils UK, research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several envir ...

(NERC). She was built in 2006 to replace the ageing with funds from Britain's NERC and the DTI's Large Scientific Facilities Fund. She was named after Captain James Cook, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

explorer,

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prim ...

and

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton by

Anne, Princess Royal Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King ...

. On her maiden scientific voyage, on 5 March 2007, the ''James Cook'' set off to study the Fifteen-Twenty fracture zone. ''James Cook'' was involved in the discovery of what is believed to be the world's deepest undersea volcanic vents, while in the Caribbean in 2010. In September 2015, while on a cruise studying the seabed and marine life of the Whittard Canyon on the northern margin of the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

oceanographers Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its Physical oceanography, physics, Chemical oceanography, chemistry, Biological oceanography, biology, a ...

pictured what they believe was the first

blue whale The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known ever to have existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...

in English waters since the mammals were almost hunted to extinction in the north-east Atlantic. In January 2020 she left

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

to take part in the Go-Ship programme of scientific expeditions, studying the changes in the physical and chemical make-up of the North Atlantic as a result of anthropogenic warming. The voyage ended at

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

in early March. RRS James Cook 1

References

External links

Skipsteknisk AS Design ST-345

National Oceanography Centre – Sea Systems – RRS ''James Cook'', Southampton

Movie of the hull launch of the RRS ''James Cook'' in Gdansk, Poland
* * Natural Environment Research Council Oceanographic instrumentation Research vessels of the United Kingdom 2005 ships Ships built in Gdańsk {{ship-stub

See also

References

External links