Valdivia Expedition

The Valdivia Expedition, or Deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition (German Deep Sea Expedition), was a scientific expedition organised and funded by the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm II and was named after the ship which was bought and outfitted for the expedition, the SS Valdivia. It was led by the marine biologist Carl Chun and the expedition ran from 1898-1899 with the purpose of exploring the depths of the oceans below 500 fathoms, which had not been explored by the earlier Challenger Expedition.

The Challenger Expedition was the expedition that established modern Oceanography, prompting many other expeditions which were either nationally and privately funded which would dredge the deep-sea in search of new and exotic species. This late 19th Century fascination with organisms found at great depths was unsurprising, because in the mid-19th century most scientists followed Abyssal Theory which stated that it was not possible for life to exist below 300 fathoms depth. Carl Chun, a famed teuthologist, held had a deep conviction that there must be life, in abundance, which existed in the unknown abyssal regions of the oceans, a belief he shared with an increasingly large number of marine scientists. This conviction along with his desire to further explore the areas of the oceans which were not covered by the Challenger Expedition that led him to propose that the German Empire organise its own expedition which was to be nationally funded with the approval of the Kaiser.

Chun proposed to the Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte (Society of German Naturalists and Doctors ), which was the German equivalent of the Royal Society, that a German deep sea expedition be funded and equipped to explore the deep oceans. His proposal was well received and a resolution to approve the plan and recommend it to the German government was unanimously adopted on 24 September 1897. It was originally conceived as purely zoological expedition but Friedrich Ratzel suggested that chemical and physical observations be included in the expedition's remit and this was accepted. The German government approved the proposal and granted the expedition 300,000 marks in initial funding with promises of further grants to cover the expenses of the expedition and the publication costs of its findings.

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