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. 7 journeys so far, 1929 to 1967, 1,841 specimens between them.
7 collectors and expeditions202 days in the field54,389 km between stops1,350 photographed specimens
7 journeys match
Edward Philpott Mumford
8 islands of French Polynesia · Aug – Dec 1929
Edward Philpott Mumford across 8 islands of French Polynesia, August – December 1929774 specimens · 26 stops · 140 days · 795 km
Alastair M. Adamson
9 islands of French Polynesia · Aug – Dec 1929
Alastair M. Adamson across 9 islands of French Polynesia, August – December 1929765 specimens · 27 stops · 140 days · 759 km
Johnson Randall
9 islands of French Polynesia · Feb – Jul 1957
Johnson Randall across 9 islands of French Polynesia, February – July 195786 specimens · 22 stops · 146 days · 1,617 km
station
17 islands · Aug – Dec 1956
station, August – December 195676 specimens · 33 stops · 130 days · 25,742 km
V Hugh M. Smith cruise 35
12 islands · Aug – Sep 1956
V Hugh M. Smith cruise 35, August – September 195650 specimens · 25 stops · 60 days · 13,190 km
V. Pele
9 islands of French Polynesia · Sep – Oct 1967
V. Pele across 9 islands of French Polynesia, September – October 196745 specimens · 11 stops · 50 days · 6,143 km
Crew of R
9 islands of French Polynesia · Sep – Oct 1967
Crew of R, September – October 196745 specimens · 11 stops · 50 days · 6,143 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.