The boreholes on Funafuti at the site now called "Darwin's Drill", are the result of drilling conducted by the Royal Society of London for the purpose of investigating the formation of coral reefs and the question as to whether traces of shallow water organisms could be found at depth in the coral of Pacific atolls. This investigation followed the work on The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs conducted by Charles Darwin in the Pacific. Drilling occurred in 1896, 1897 and 1911. In 1896 Professor Edgeworth David of the University of Sydney went to the Pacific atoll of Funafuti as part of the "Funafuti Coral Reef Boring Expedition of the Royal Society", under Professor William Sollas. There were defects in the boring machinery and the bore penetrated only slightly more than 100 feet (approx. 31 m).