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Crossing The Equator
The line-crossing ceremony is an initiation rite in some English-speaking countries that commemorates a person's first crossing of the equator. The tradition may have originated with ceremonies when passing headlands, and become a "folly" sanctioned as a boost to morale,Robert FitzRoy (1839) ''Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836'', London: Henry Colburn. pp57–58 or have been created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long, rough voyages. Equator-crossing ceremonies, typically featuring Neptune (mythology), King Neptune, are common in the navy and are also sometimes carried out for passengers' entertainment on civilian ocean liners and cruise ships. They are also performed in the merchant navy and aboard sail training ships. Throughout history, line-crossing ceremonies have sometimes become dangerous Hazing, hazing rituals. Most modern navies have institut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early Middle Ages, medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Kingdom of France, France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the English Navy of the early 16th century; the oldest of the British Armed Forces, UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the early 18th century until the World War II, Second World War, it was the world's most powerful navy. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superior ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with List of aircraft carriers in service, eleven in service, one undergoing trials, two new carriers under construction, and six other carriers planned as of 2024. With 336,978 personnel on active duty and 101,583 in the Ready Reserve, the U.S. Navy is the third largest of the United States military service branches in terms of personnel. It has 299 deployable combat vessels and about 4,012 operational aircraft as of 18 July 2023. The U.S. Navy is one of six United States Armed Forces, armed forces of the United States and one of eight uniformed services of the United States. The United States Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augustus Earle
Augustus Earle (1793–1838) was a British painter. Unlike earlier artists who worked outside Europe and were employed on voyages of exploration or worked abroad for wealthy, often aristocratic patrons, Earle was able to operate quite independently – able to combine his lust for travel with an ability to earn a living through art. The body of work he produced during his travels comprises a significant documentary record of the effects of European contact and colonisation during the early nineteenth century. Life Early life Augustus Earle was born in London on 1 June 1793. He was the youngest child of an American-born father, James Earle (1761–1796), an artist, and Georgiana Caroline Smyth, daughter of John Carteret Pilkington and former partner (with two children) of Joseph Brewer Palmer Smyth, an Loyalist (American Revolution), American loyalist who spent some years in England. Earle's father James was a member of the prominent American Earle family. The elder of his two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a Common descent, common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this Phylogenetics, branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by Burials and memorials in Westminster Abbey, burial in Westminster Abbey. Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh Medical Schoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Voyage Of HMS Beagle
The second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'', from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, HMS ''Beagle'', made under her newest commander, Robert FitzRoy. FitzRoy had thought of the advantages of having someone onboard who could investigate geology, and sought a natural history, naturalist to accompany them as a wikt:supernumerary, supernumerary. At the age of 22, the graduate Charles Darwin hoped to see the tropics before becoming a parson, and accepted the opportunity. He was greatly influenced by reading Charles Lyell's ''Principles of Geology'' during the voyage. By the end of the expedition, Darwin had made his name as a geologist, and fossil collector, and the publication of his journal (later known as ''The Voyage of the Beagle'') gave him wide renown as a writer. ''Beagle'' sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, and then carried out detailed hydrographic surveys around the coasts of southern South America, returning via Tahiti and Australia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Béchervaise
John Mayston Béchervaise (11 May 1910 – 13 July 1998) was an Australian writer, photographer, artist, historian and explorer. He is especially notable for his work and achievements in Antarctica. Career Béchervaise was educated in Melbourne. He joined Geelong College in 1935 in order to establish a program of outdoor activities for the boys. During the years of the Second World War he studied art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, but returned to Geelong College after the war. In 1947 he led the first party to land Tasmania's Rodondo Island in Bass Strait, 10 km off the coast of Victoria. In January 1949 he led a mountaineering expedition of the Geelong College Exploration Society to climb the hitherto unclimbed 1224 m Federation Peak in Tasmania. As well as contributing to the development of outdoor education in Victoria, he was for many years the assistant editor of the Australian magazine '' Walkabout''. Antarctic In the 1950s Béchervais ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Blossom (1806)
HMS ''Blossom'' was an 18-gun sloop-of-war. She was built in 1806 and is best known for the 1825–1828 expedition under Captain Beechey to the Pacific Ocean. She explored as far north as Point Barrow, Alaska, the furthest point into the Arctic any non-Inuit had been at the time. She was finally broken up in 1848. Napoleonic Wars On 26 February 1808 ''Blossom'' was in company with when they captured ''Sally and Hetty'', William Fleming, Master. ''Blossom'' was in company with ''Jamaica'' when they recaptured the American brig ''Iris''. In the mid-morning of 23 February 1812, ''Blossom'' was off Cabrera when a strange schooner sailed towards her, mistaking her for a merchantman. When the schooner realized her mistake a five-hour chase followed before ''Blossom'' was able to capture the schooner . ''Jean Bart'' was of 147.5 tons (bm) and had been launched in Marseille only five weeks earlier. She was armed with five 12 and two 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 106 men u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of books or individual stories in the public domain. All files can be accessed for free under an open format layout, available on almost any computer. , Project Gutenberg had reached over 75,999 items in its collection of free eBooks. The releases are available in plain text as well as other formats, such as HTML, PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and Plucker wherever possible. Most releases are in the English language, but many non-English works are also available. There are multiple affiliated projects that provide additional content, including region- and language-specific works. Project Gutenberg is closely affiliated with Distributed Proofreaders, an Internet-based community for proofr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto Von Kotzebue
Otto von Kotzebue (; 30 December 1787 – 15 February 1846) was a Baltic German naval officer in the Imperial Russian Navy. He commanded two naval expeditions into the Pacific for the purposes of exploration and scientific investigation. The first expedition explored Oceania and the western coast of North America and passed through the Bering Strait in search of a passage across the Arctic Ocean. His second voyage was intended as a military resupply mission to Kamchatka but again included significant explorations of the west coast of North America and Oceania. Early life and education Kotzebue was born and raised in Reval (Tallinn), in the Governorate of Estonia of the Russian Empire. He was the second son of German writer and diplomat August von Kotzebue. The Kotzebue family was of Brandenburgish origin; his earliest known patrilineal ancestors were from Kossebau in Altmark. After attending the Saint Petersburg school of cadets, he accompanied Adam Johann von Krusenst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Headland
A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, pp. 80, 246. . Headlands are characterised by high, breaking waves, rocky shores, intense erosion, and steep sea cliff. Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is flanked by land on three sides, whereas a headland is flanked by water on three sides. Headlands and bays form on discordant coastlines, where bands of rock of alternating resistance run perpendicular to the coast. Bays form when weak (less resistant) rocks (such as sands and clays) are eroded, leaving bands of stronger (more resistant) rocks (such as chalk, limestone, and granite) forming a headland, or peninsula. Through the deposition of sediment within the bay and the erosio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
