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. 12 journeys so far, 1950 to 1958, 1,133 specimens between them.
7 collectors and expeditions313 days in the field144,958 km between stops4 photographed specimens
12 journeys match
station
16 islands · Jul – Dec 1955
station, July – December 1955196 specimens · 82 stops · 144 days · 48,394 km
V Hugh M. Smith cruise 30
9 islands of the United States · Jul – Aug 1955
V Hugh M. Smith cruise 30, July – August 195599 specimens · 35 stops · 43 days · 13,037 km
Johnson Randall
5 islands · Feb – May 1956
Johnson Randall across 5 islands, February – May 1956111 specimens · 14 stops · 108 days · 128 km
V Hugh M. Smith cruise 31
7 islands · Sep – Dec 1955
V Hugh M. Smith cruise 31, September – December 195583 specimens · 41 stops · 72 days · 17,808 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
station
4 islands of the United States · Oct – Nov 1958
station, October – November 1958111 specimens · 13 stops · 32 days · 5,167 km
V Hugh M. Smith cruise 47
4 islands of the United States · Oct – Nov 1958
V Hugh M. Smith cruise 47, October – November 1958111 specimens · 13 stops · 32 days · 5,167 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
W.A. Gosline
7 islands · May – Jul 1950
W.A. Gosline across 7 islands, May – July 195066 specimens · 8 stops · 60 days · 6,000 km
Johnson Randall
Wake Island · 6–12 Jun 1953
Johnson Randall in Wake Island, 6–12 June 195380 specimens · 7 stops · 7 days
W.A. Gosline
Wake Island and Hawaiʻi Island · 7–19 Jun 1953
W.A. Gosline in Wake Island and Hawaiʻi Island, 7–19 June 195364 specimens · 6 stops · 13 days · 8,708 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.