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TheNorwegian Scientific Expedition toTristan Da Cunha was a scientific and cultural exploration of themost remote inhabitedarchipelago in the world, in the southAtlantic Ocean, 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) from the nearest inhabited land,Saint Helena. The expedition arrived on the island in December 1937 and left in March 1938.
Captained by botanistErling Christophersen, the thirteen man crew included threeUniversity of Oslo Ph.D. students conducting research for their dissertations, which were published shortly after their return; these included sociologistPeter A. Munch, ornithologistYngvar Hagen, andphycologistEgil Baardseth. Also among the crew were a geologist, a marine biologist, anichthyologist, a dentist, and a doctor. A late addition to the crew was topological surveyorAllan Crawford, a British engineer who was recruited by the captain en route toCape Town, and who would later come to be regarded as a leading authority on Tristan Da Cunha.[1]
Based on observations made during the voyage, Christophersen publishedTristan da Cunha, the Lonely Isle (1938) and the comprehensiveNorwegian Scientific Expedition to Tristan Da Cunha, 1937-1938 (1945), while the Ph.D. students published their work and achieved their degrees. Munch publishedSociology of Tristan da Cunha (1946), Hagen publishedBirds of Tristan da Cunha (1952), and Baardseth publishedThe Marine Algae of Tristan da Cunha (1941).