Editing Royal Navy (section)

===Exploration===
[[File:Cook Three Voyages 59.png|thumb|The routes of Royal Navy Captain [[James Cook]]'s three voyages]]
{{Further|Challenger expedition|James Cook|North-West Passage|Second voyage of HMS Beagle|Vancouver Expedition}}

The Royal Navy played an historic role in several great global explorations of science and discovery.<ref>{{cite book |page=332 |last=Howitt |first=William |author-link=William Howitt |year=1865 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tsANAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA332 |title=The History of Discovery in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand: From the Earliest Date to the Present Day |publisher=[[Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green]] |location=London |chapter=Voyages of Captains Wickham, Fitzroy, and Stokes, in the Beagle, round the Australian Coasts, from 1837 to 1843 |volume=1}}</ref> Beginning in the 18th century many great voyages were commissioned often in co-operation with the [[Royal Society]], such as the [[Northwest Passage expedition of 1741]]. [[James Cook]] led three great voyages, with goals such as discovering [[Terra Australis]], observing the [[Transit of Venus]] and searching for the elusive [[North-West Passage]], these voyages are considered to have contributed to world knowledge and science.<ref name="Franklin1837">{{cite book|last= Franklin|first= Benjamin|author-link= Benjamin Franklin|title= The works of Benjamin Franklin|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vVc-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA124|access-date= 22 September 2011|date= 1837|publisher=Tappan, Whittemore, and Mason|pages= 123–24}}</ref> In the late 18th century, during a [[Vancouver Expedition|four year voyage]] Captain [[George Vancouver]] made detailed maps of the western coastline of [[North America]].<ref>Pynn, Larry (30 May 2007) "Charting the Coast," ''The [[Vancouver Sun]]'', p.B3</ref>

In the 19th century, [[Charles Darwin]] made further contributions to science during the [[second voyage of HMS Beagle]].<ref name=RMG>{{cite web |title=HMS 'Beagle' (1820–70) |url=http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConFactFile.64/HMS-Beagle.html |work=[[Royal Museums Greenwich]] |access-date=3 February 2013 |archive-date=27 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927002044/http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConFactFile.64/HMS-Beagle.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Ross expedition]] to the Antarctic made several important discoveries in [[biology]] and [[zoology]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Godbey|first1=Holly|title=Recent Discovery of Wrecked HMS Terror, a Bombing Vessel From a Failed Arctic Expedition|url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/history/recent-discovery-wrecked-bombing-vessel-arctic-expedition-m.html|website=War History Online|date=23 June 2017}}</ref> Several of the Royal Navy's voyages ended in disaster such as those of [[Franklin's lost expedition|Franklin]] and [[Terra Nova Expedition|Scott]].<ref>{{cite book |last = Crane|first = D.|author-link = David Crane (historian)|date = 2005|title = Scott of the Antarctic: A Life of Courage, and Tragedy in the Extreme South|publisher = [[HarperCollins]]|location = London|isbn = 978-0007150687 |page=409}}</ref> Between 1872 and 1876 {{HMS|Challenger|1858|6}} undertook the first global marine research expedition, the [[Challenger expedition|''Challenger'' expedition]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Rice |first=A. L. |title=Understanding the Oceans: Marine Science in the Wake of HMS ''Challenger'' |publisher=UCL Press |place=London |year=1999 |pages=27&ndash;48 |chapter=The Challenger Expedition |isbn=978-1-85728-705-9}}</ref>