The Percy Sladen Trust Expeditions to the Abrolhos Islands were two scientific expeditions, conducted in 1913 and 1915 under the leadership of Professor William John Dakin and funded by the

Percy Sladen Trust The Percy Sladen Memorial Trust is a trust fund administered by the Linnean Society of London for the support of scientific research. It was endowed by Constance Sladen, who was married to the marine biologist Percy Sladen (1849–1900), in his mem ...

. These expeditions conducted extensive research into the natural history of the

Houtman Abrolhos The Houtman Abrolhos (often called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, about west of Geraldton, Western Australia. It is the southernmost true coral ...

, an archipelago in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

off the coast of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The first expedition lasted for three weeks from November 1913; the expedition members were Dakin and Wilfred Alexander. The pair undertook shore collecting, biological observations on various islands, some geological observations, and dredging in the

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

s and between the island groups. The resultant collections and observations were sufficiently important to warrant a second visit, and accordingly a second expedition was funded. The second expedition lasted for four weeks from October 1915; this time Dakin's companion was A. Cayzer. More hydrographic equipment was carried the second time, and a great deal of time was spent in dredging. The Percy Sladen Trust expeditions were only the second scientific expeditions to the islands, the first being a visit by

William Saville-Kent William Saville-Kent (10 July 1845 – 11 October 1908) was an English marine biologist and author. Early life Born in the town of Sidmouth in Devon, South West England on 10 July 1845, William Saville-Kent was the son of Samuel Saville Kent (7 ...

in the 1890s. The expeditions ultimately contributed substantially to published information on the biota of the archipelago. Publications that stemmed from the expedition are as follows: * * * * * * * * * * Despite this large list of papers, not all of the collected specimens were written up; for example, of the molluscs collected, only the opisthobranchs were written up.

References

{{reflist Houtman Abrolhos Science and technology in Western Australia