Wild, John James

Born Jean Jacques Wild in Zurich, Switzerland in 1824, John James Wild was appointed to the position of artist and secretary to the 1872-76 Challenger expedition, the first global investigation of the ocean's depths: the most significant contribution by Wild to the many volumes associated with the expedition was Thalassa; an essay on the depth, temperature and currents of the Ocean. He also published an illustrated popular account of his travels, At Anchor, in which he described Melbourne and produced engravings of Port Philip Heads and the Mountain Ash forests. He emigrated to Melbourne in 1881.