Sounding Scotland's waters, 1800-1900: literature, history, science

Sounding Scotland’s Waters, 1800-1900 considers the historic, scientific and cultural significance of water during the long nineteenth century as well as Scotland’s participation in global maritime networks. Building on developments in the blue humanities over the last twenty years, its sixteen chapters span Scotland’s surrounding seas, inland lochs, and firths. Prompted by Scotland’s role in the international Challenger Expedition (1872-1876) which sounded, or measured, the ocean depth at over 360 observation stations worldwide, we suggest that ‘sounding’, understood both as a specific scientific practice and a method of close reading, offers a productive framework for interdisciplinary work on watery environments. Like nineteenth-century sounding or trawling devices, the collection brings together samples from a range of disciplines out of which a greater understanding of the scope of Scotland’s waters in the nineteenth century emerges.