Tides of History: Ocean Science and Her Majesty's Navy

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the British sought to master the physical properties of the oceans; in the second half, they lorded over large portions of the oceansOCO outer rim. The dominance of Her MajestyOCOs navy was due in no small part to collaboration between the British Admiralty, the maritime community, and the scientific elite. Together, they transformed the vast emptiness of the ocean into an ordered and bounded grid.a In the process, the modern scientist emerged. Science itself expanded from a limited and local undertaking receiving parsimonious state support to worldwide and relatively well financed research involving a hierarchy of practitioners.Analyzing the economic, political, social, and scientific changes on which the British sailed to power, "Tides of History" shows how the British Admiralty collaborated closely not only with scholars, such as William Whewell, but also with the maritime communitya OCosailors, local tide table makers, dockyard officials, and harbormastersOCoin order to systematize knowledge of the worldOCOs oceans, coasts, ports, and estuaries.a As Michael S. Reidy points out, BritainOCOs security and prosperity as a maritime nation depended on its ability to maneuver through the oceans and dominate coasts and channels. The practice of science and the rise of the scientist became inextricably linked to the process of European expansion. "