Activity
Title: 'Save the Endeavour'
Subject
Area: Geography
Theme:
Ocean Floor Exploration
Grade
Level: 4th - 6th
Students
will investigate how underwater geography is discovered and mapped.
They will conduct an experiment to test ship design in shallow
water.
Colorado
Standard(s) and/or Benchmark(s) addressed in this activity:
|
Grade
|
Content
Area
|
Standard
|
Benchmark
|
|
4th
+ 6th
|
Geography
|
1-construct
tools to derive information
|
1.1Develop
spatial perspective
|
|
4th
+ 6th
|
Geography
|
2-physical
characteristics
|
2.1Determine
physical characteristics of place
|
| 4th
+ 6th |
Geography |
3-physical
processes shape earth |
3.1Determine
development of surface patterns |
National
Standard(s) and/or Benchmark(s) addressed in this activity:
|
Grade
|
Content
Area
|
Standard
|
Benchmark
|
|
4th
+ 6th
|
Geography
|
1-use
maps to report information
|
Develop
spatial perspective
|
|
4th
+ 6th
|
Geography
|
3-spatial
organization of environments
|
Analyze
characteristics in relation to other points
|
| 4th
+ 6th |
Geography |
4-physical
characteristics of places |
Determine
physical characteristics of place |
| 4th
+ 6th |
Geography |
7-physical
processes shape the pattern of Earth’s surface |
Development
of surface patterns, i.e. ocean floor |
Introduction:
“At
nightfall rocks and shoals were seen ahead… at supper she
(HMB Endeavour) went over a bank of 7 or 8 fathom water which
she came upon very suddenly: this we concluded to be the tail
of the Shoals we had seen at sunset and therefore went to bed
in perfect security, but scarce were we warm in our beds when
we were called up with the alarming news of the ship being fast
ashore upon a rock, which she in a few moments convinced us of
by beating very violently against the rocks.” Joseph Banks,
HMB Endeavour, 11 June, 1770.
The Endeavour had just struck the Great
Barrier Reef, which Captain Cook did not know existed. He was
quite sure he had struck a reef, but had no idea it was a reef
to the extent of the Great Barrier Reef, running for hundreds
of miles along the east coast of Australia. The Reef managed to
tear a melon-sized hole in the underside of the ship. A clever
sailor rigged a makeshift sling from a sail, dragging it into
place over the hole, plugging the leak. The Endeavour managed
to sail to the next harbor for repairs, even though she was taking
on water.
Upon entering the shallow coastal waters
near the mouth of what Cook called the Endeavour River, he reports
that he ran the ship aground twice before dropping anchor. Upon
‘careening’ the ship (rolling her over to repair the
leak), the sailors found the rock still embedded in the underside
of the ship. Had it been removed prior to finding shallow water,
it was large enough to have sunk His Majesty’s Barque, Endeavour!
“In this situation all the sails
were immediately taken in, and the boats hoisted out to examine
the depth of water round the ship…the vessel had been lifted
over a ledge of the rock, and lay in a follow within it…in
some places there was from three to four fathom, and in others
not so many feet.” James Cook, HMB Endeavour, 11June, 1770.
As the Endeavour was being made seaworthy
once again, Cook ordered the recently discovered harbor to be
examined. Much knowledge of the underwater terrain must be identified
prior to their departure to avoid any more collisions with the
reef system. Cook reports in his journal, “ I sent Master
again out to sound about the shoals, the account which he had
brought me of a channel being by no means satisfactory.”
What does the floor of the ocean look
like? Is it flat and sandy or perhaps, like the surface of land?
As Cook and crew came to realize, the ocean has geography similar
to the land above water, containing underwater mountain ranges
and valleys. Coral reef systems dot the ‘landscape’
and as Cook discovered, have to be reckoned with. Knowledge of
what lay just below the surface of the water was critical.
It was common practice to take soundings
the closer to shore a ship traveled. A sounding line was lowered
overboard to chart the ocean floor in shallow areas. The sounding
line consisted of cone-shaped weights attached to knotted ropes.
The knots marked fathoms, a measure of about six feet. Usually
a lead line was 40 fathoms in length. (What is its length?)
After the Endeavour’s repairs were
made and she was ready to depart the harbor, Cook once again relied
on a sounding rope to chart the way. They could not afford more
encounters with hidden reef systems!
Excerpts from his journal describe Cook’s
procedure for departure: “…the pinnace (small boat used
to transport from the ship to shallow waters) went ahead, which
was ordered to keep sounding continually.”
History records they made safe passage
through the Great Barrier Reef through a channel known today as
‘Cook’s Passage!"
Vocabulary:
- soundings
(measurements taken of the ocean floor)
- fathoms
(linear nautical length of six feet)
- shoals
(shallow water)
- channel
(passage way through a reef system)
Materials:
- dishpan
or bowl at least 15” in diameter
- unopened
1-pint carton of milk/juice
- marbles
or comparable size rocks for weight
- pencil
- scissors
- ruler
Preparation:
- Create
cooperative groups for students to discover the principle of
displacement as they observe two model ships in the water.
- Groups
will test the ship design. They will offer suggestions as to
safer design features for ships sailing in shallow waters.
Procedure:
- Without
opening the carton, measure 2 inches from the bottom. Draw a
line around the carton.
- Poke
a hole on the line and empty the contents of the carton. Cut
around the line to make two separate pieces.
- Fill
the dishpan with 2 inches of water. Float each half of the carton
in the water.
- Add
weights (marbles, etc.), one at a time, to the triangular-bottom
half (simulates the underside of the Endeavour). Keep track
of how many weights it takes to make the ship hit the bottom.
- Put
the same number of marbles into the flat-bottomed ship. Does
the ship sink when you reach the final weight?
- In
journals, record your ideas to the following:
If
you were Captain Cook, how would you have tried to sail the ship
off the reef?
If
you were a ship builder in the time of Cook, how would you make
your ships safe for island exploration?
Analyze
and Conclude:
- Were
you able to construct ‘boats’ to test the displacement
theory? Could you draw reasonable conclusions as to which boat
design would be more effective in shallow water travel?
- Did
you accurately record information and observations as you conducted
the displacement experiment?
- Does
your student journal reflect an understanding of the data gathered
from the experiment?
- Student
journal entries should provide information for island/coastal
exploration, i.e.take soundings to determine ocean terrain;
ship design to accommodate coastal exploration, and ideas of
ocean floor geography.
