This is a first person account of the cruise of HMS Challenger, 1872-1876, a globe-girdling oceanographic expedition. While not an out and out scientific work, details of such work - including measurement of ocean depth and water temperature at different levels, plus trawling to recover material and specimens from the ocean floor is covered, along with description of the many places visited. The stand-outs for me were the visit to Tristan da Cunha and the story of the Brothers Stoltenhoff, the description of the wholly British railway system in Japan, and the the measurement of the (now named) 'Challenger' deep in the Pacific. ( )