HMS Challenger, a steam-powered corvette in the British Royal Navy, undertook an important round-the-world oceanographic survey from 1872 to 1876. Under the scientific direction of Sir Charles Wyville Thomson, the cruise was the first, most extensive, and most comprehensive of its kind, and contributed almost incalculably to humankind's knowledge of the Earth's oceans. The results of the survey were published in the 50-volume Challenger Report (1881-1895).