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. 6 journeys so far, 1946 to 1975, 4,646 specimens between them.
5 collectors and expeditions263 days in the field169,896 km between stops2,063 photographed specimens
6 journeys match
F. Raymond Fosberg
56 islands · Apr – Nov 1946
F. Raymond Fosberg across 56 islands, April – November 19462,439 specimens · 102 stops · 209 days · 105,682 km


Edward Yataro Hosaka
31 islands · Apr – Aug 1946
Edward Yataro Hosaka across 31 islands, April – August 1946872 specimens · 51 stops · 110 days · 43,680 km
F. Raymond Fosberg
21 islands · Nov 1951 – Apr 1952
F. Raymond Fosberg across 21 islands, November 1951 – April 1952672 specimens · 57 stops · 145 days · 13,644 km
E.Y. Dawson
Enewetak Atoll and Mauke · Aug – Sep 1955
E.Y. Dawson in Enewetak Atoll and Mauke, August – September 1955435 specimens · 10 stops · 16 days
Harold St.John
11 islands · Jul – Aug 1949
Harold St.John across 11 islands, July – August 1949180 specimens · 15 stops · 30 days · 6,890 km
Mary Ann Lee
3 islands · 12–18 Feb 1975
Mary Ann Lee in Enewetak Atoll, Enewetok Atoll and Eniwetok Atoll, 12–18 February 197548 specimens · 6 stops · 7 days
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.
