How Challenger made room for science at sea

The expedition drawings show the ship's upper deck, main deck, lower deck, hold, and scientific spaces. They omit the two retained guns, probably because scientists rather than naval officers prepared the plans and did not regard the weapons as important. A possible location for movable pivot-mounted guns is identified on the forward main deck, but this remains an interpretation rather than a documented certainty. The sturdy hull and carefully allocated space show the practical challenge of combining laboratories, specimens, people, stores, and defensive weapons in one ocean-going corvette.