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, 1975 to 1980, 1,449 specimens between them.
5 collectors and expeditions145 days in the field
6 journeys match
Johnson Randall
14 islands of Sri Lanka · Jan – Apr 1975
Johnson Randall across 14 islands of Sri Lanka, January – April 1975811 specimens · 56 stops · 88 days
Johnson Randall
14 islands · Jan – Apr 1980
Johnson Randall across 14 islands, January – April 1980346 specimens · 38 stops · 101 days
K. Rama Rao
3 islands · Feb – Mar 1975
K. Rama Rao in Madras, India and Tuticorin, February – March 1975104 specimens · 8 stops · 12 days
Local aquarium fisherman
3 islands · Feb – Mar 1975
Local aquarium fisherman in Tuticorin, Madras and India, February – March 197560 specimens · 6 stops · 32 days
William F. Smith-Vaniz
Kerala State and India · 2–12 Feb 1980
William F. Smith-Vaniz in Kerala State and India, 2–12 February 198083 specimens · 3 stops · 11 days
Local fishermen
Kerala State and India · 1–15 Feb 1980
Local fishermen in Kerala State and India, 1–15 February 198045 specimens · 2 stops · 15 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.