Journeys
The expeditions, reassembled
Every dated label is a diary entry. Read a collector’s labels in order and the voyage comes back: the islands in sequence, the days at each, the specimens from every stop. 8 journeys so far, 1924 to 2002, 1,179 specimens between them.
6 collectors and expeditions192 days in the field52,515 km between stops491 photographed specimens
8 journeys match
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Gerrit Parmele Wilder
18 islands · Nov 1924 – May 1925
Gerrit Parmele Wilder across 18 islands, November 1924 – May 1925244 specimens · 43 stops · 188 days · 15,411 km
W.R. Sykes
5 islands · Apr – Jul 1992
W.R. Sykes across 5 islands, April – July 1992414 specimens · 16 stops · 75 days · 4,191 km
W.A. Whistler
9 islands · Apr – Jun 1985
W.A. Whistler across 9 islands, April – June 1985140 specimens · 32 stops · 75 days · 9,570 km
W.R. Sykes
Rarotonga and Mangaia · Jan – Feb 1990
W.R. Sykes in Rarotonga and Mangaia, January – February 1990103 specimens · 35 stops · 40 days · 5,124 km
Timothy Flynn
6 islands of the Cook Islands · 12–29 Mar 2002
Timothy Flynn across 6 islands of the Cook Islands, 12–29 March 2002110 specimens · 11 stops · 18 days · 2,765 km
W.A. Whistler
4 islands of the Cook Islands · Jul – Aug 1986
W.A. Whistler across 4 islands of the Cook Islands, July – August 198656 specimens · 20 stops · 58 days · 5,124 km
Jim Space
6 islands of the Cook Islands · 12–29 Mar 2002
Jim Space across 6 islands of the Cook Islands, 12–29 March 200267 specimens · 8 stops · 18 days · 2,644 km
M.D. Merlin
5 islands · Jul – Aug 1986
M.D. Merlin across 5 islands, July – August 198645 specimens · 8 stops · 41 days · 7,686 km
How a journey is found
Every specimen with a full date and a known collector is a diary entry. The days are read in order; a gap of more than three weeks ends one journey and starts the next. Days spent where a collector lived most of their life are home, not travel, and are left out.
A journey needs at least five days, forty specimens and two places. Within it, a run of days spent within about ten kilometres is one stop; the stop’s point is the middle of the labels that carry coordinates, or the island’s centre when none do.
Companions are the people whose own labels put them in the same place on the same days. Staff can name a journey, write about it and feature it; everything else here is read straight off the specimens, and is rebuilt as the records improve.