It was loaded with specimen jars, filled with alcohol for preservation of samples, microscopes and chemical apparatus, trawls and dredges, thermometers, barometers, water sampling bottles, sounding leads, devices to collect sediment from the sea bed and great lengths of rope with which to suspend the equipment into the ocean depths.

Because of the novelty of the expedition, some of the equipment was invented or specially modified for the occasion. It carried 181 mi of Italian hemp