On 1 September, 1896, Dom Carlos I began the first of twelve oceanographic campaigns that he undertook along the Portuguese coast between 1896 and 1907. With the help of several collaborators, including Albert Girard, the monarch dedicated himself primarily to the study of deep-sea fish.
This intense oceanographic activity also involved other areas of knowledge such as the study of currents or the topography of the seabed, including, for example, the characterisation of the deep submarine valleys near Cape Espichel.
Initially kept at Necessidades Palace, the collection, gathered by Dom Carlos I with the purpose of creating an Oceanographic Museum, was handed over to the Portuguese Naval League in February 1910, following his tragic death.
But it was in 1935 that a diploma formalised the transfer of the collection by the heirs to the Vasco da Gama Aquarium with the aim of 'being used as study material for oceanography specialists and all those interested in the culture and progress of science'.
As a result of the troubled changes arising from the end of the monarchy, today Dom Carlos I Oceanographic Museum Collection is a just sample of what the monarch gathered throughout his life, and the importance of preserving and disseminating the historical and scientific value of the few pieces that have survived has become even more important.