HMS Beagle: Darwin’s Trip around the World

Charles Darwin sailed around the world from 1831–1836 as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle . His experiences and observations helped him develop the theory of evolution through natural selection.

Biology, Geography, Earth Science, Geology, Ecology

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Charles Darwin set sail on the ship HMS Beagle on December 27, 1831, from Plymouth, England. Darwin was 22 years old when he was hired to be the ship’s naturalist . Most of the trip was spent sailing around South America. There Darwin spent considerable time ashore collecting plants and animals. Darwin filled notebooks with his observations of plants, animals, and geology . The trip was an almost five-year adventure and the ship returned to Falmouth, England, on October 2, 1836.

Throughout South America, Darwin collected a variety of bird specimens . One key observation Darwin made occurred while he was studying the specimens from the Galapagos Islands. He noticed the finches on the island were similar to the finches from the mainland, but each showed certain characteristics that helped them to gather food more easily in their specific habitat. He collected many specimens of the finches on the Galapagos Islands. These specimens and his notebooks provided Darwin with a record of his observations as he developed the theory of evolution through natural selection .

Have students work in pairs to use the map and the resources in the explore more tab to create a social media feed that includes five dates and posts from the expedition. Students may need to conduct additional research to ensure their proposed posts are factual and something Darwin would have seen on the trip. Help students brainstorm ideas for their posts by asking: What types of animals would Darwin have seen? Are any of them extinct today? What types of plants did he note? What types of geology did he see? What would you imagine some of the hardships the explorers would have encountered on this voyage?

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Charles Darwin and His Voyage Aboard H.M.S. Beagle

The Young Naturalist Spent Five Years on a Royal Navy Research Ship

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The History of H.M.S. Beagle

Gentleman passenger, darwin invited to join the voyage in 1831, departs england on december 27, 1831, south america from february 1832, the galapagos islands, september 1835, circumnavigating the globe, back home october 2, 1836, organizing specimens and writing, the theory of evolution.

purpose of the beagle voyage

Charles Darwin’s five-year voyage in the early 1830s on H.M.S. Beagle has become legendary, as insights gained by the bright young scientist on his trip to exotic places greatly influenced his masterwork, the book " On the Origin of Species ."

Darwin didn’t actually formulate his theory of evolution while sailing around the world aboard the Royal Navy ship. But the exotic plants and animals he encountered challenged his thinking and led him to consider scientific evidence in new ways.

After returning to England from his five years at sea, Darwin began writing a multi-volume book on what he had seen. His writings on the Beagle voyage concluded in 1843, a full decade and a half before the publication of "On the Origin of Species."

H.M.S. Beagle is remembered today because of its association with Charles Darwin , but it had sailed on a lengthy scientific mission several years before Darwin came into the picture. The Beagle, a warship carrying ten cannons, sailed in 1826 to explore the coastline of South America. The ship had an unfortunate episode when its captain sank into a depression, perhaps caused by the isolation of the voyage, and committed suicide.

Lieutenant Robert FitzRoy assumed command of the Beagle, continued the voyage and returned the ship safely to England in 1830. FitzRoy was promoted to Captain and named to command the ship on a second voyage, which was to circumnavigate the globe while conducting explorations along the South American coastline and across the South Pacific.

FitzRoy came up with the idea of bringing along someone with a scientific background who could explore and record observations. Part of FitzRoy’s plan was that an educated civilian, referred to as a “gentleman passenger,” would be good company aboard ship and would help him avoid the loneliness that seemed to have doomed his predecessor.

Inquiries were made among professors at British universities, and a former professor of Darwin’s proposed him for the position aboard the Beagle.

After taking his final exams at Cambridge in 1831, Darwin spent a few weeks on a geological expedition to Wales. He had intended to return to Cambridge that fall for theological training, but a letter from a professor, John Steven Henslow, inviting him to join the Beagle, changed everything.

Darwin was excited to join the ship, but his father was against the idea, thinking it foolhardy. Other relatives convinced Darwin’s father otherwise, and during the fall of 1831, the 22-year-old Darwin made preparations to depart England for five years.

With its eager passenger aboard, the Beagle left England on December 27, 1831. The ship reached the Canary Islands in early January and continued onward to South America, which was reached by the end of February 1832.

During the explorations of South America, Darwin was able to spend considerable time on land, sometimes arranging for the ship to drop him off and pick him up at the end of an overland trip. He kept notebooks to record his observations, and during quiet times on board the Beagle, he would transcribe his notes into a journal.

In the summer of 1833, Darwin went inland with gauchos in Argentina. During his treks in South America, Darwin dug for bones and fossils and was also exposed to the horrors of enslavement and other human rights abuses.

After considerable explorations in South America, the Beagle reached the Galapagos Islands in September 1835. Darwin was fascinated by such oddities as volcanic rocks and giant tortoises. He later wrote about approaching tortoises, which would retreat into their shells. The young scientist would then climb on top, and attempt to ride the large reptile when it began moving again. He recalled that it was difficult to keep his balance.

While in the Galapagos Darwin collected samples of mockingbirds, and later observed that the birds were somewhat different on each island. This made him think that the birds had a common ancestor, but had followed varying evolutionary paths once they had become separated.

The Beagle left the Galapagos and arrived at Tahiti in November 1835, and then sailed onward to reach New Zealand in late December. In January 1836 the Beagle arrived in Australia, where Darwin was favorably impressed by the young city of Sydney.

After exploring coral reefs, the Beagle continued on its way, reaching the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa at the end of May 1836. Sailing back into the Atlantic Ocean, the Beagle, in July, reached St. Helena, the remote island where Napoleon Bonaparte had died in exile following his defeat at Waterloo. The Beagle also reached a British outpost on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic, where Darwin received some very welcome letters from his sister in England.

The Beagle then sailed back to the coast of South America before returning to England, arriving at Falmouth on October 2, 1836. The entire voyage had taken nearly five years.

After landing in England, Darwin took a coach to meet his family, staying at his father’s house for a few weeks. But he was soon active, seeking advice from scientists on how to organize specimens, which included fossils and stuffed birds, he had brought home with him.

In the following few years, he wrote extensively about his experiences. A lavish five-volume set, "The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle," was published from 1839 to 1843.

And in 1839 Darwin published a classic book under its original title, "Journal of Researches." The book was later republished as " The Voyage of the Beagle ," and remains in print to this day. The book is a lively and charming account of Darwin’s travels, written with intelligence and occasional flashes of humor.

Darwin had been exposed to some thinking about evolution before embarking aboard H.M.S. Beagle. So a popular conception that Darwin’s voyage gave him the idea of evolution is not accurate.

Yet is it true that the years of travel and research focused Darwin's mind and sharpened his powers of observation. It can be argued that his trip on the Beagle gave him invaluable training, and the experience prepared him for the scientific inquiry that led to the publication of "On the Origin of Species" in 1859.

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5.13: Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle

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What's that big red pouch?

The Frigate bird of the Galápagos Islands. This bird can be found throughout the tropical Atlantic down to the Galápagos Islands and Ecuador, but not in Europe or South America, so Darwin may never have come across one until he landed on the Galápagos. Such a unique creature was bound to make a naturalist such as Darwin wonder why. Why do they look the way they do? What's that big red pouch? What are the advantages?

Darwin’s Theory

The Englishman Charles Darwin is one of the most famous scientists who ever lived. His place in the history of science is well deserved. Darwin’s theory of evolution represents a giant leap in human understanding. It explains and unifies all of biology.

An overview of evolution can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcjgWov7mTM (17:39).

As you view Introduction to Evolution and Natural Selection, focus on the following concepts: the meaning of "evolution," the relationship between evolution and natural selection, the relationship between natural selection and variation, the evolution of the peppered moth.

Darwin’s theory of evolution actually contains two major ideas:

  • One idea is that evolution occurs. In other words, organisms change over time. Life on Earth has changed as descendants diverged from common ancestors in the past.
  • The other idea is that evolution occurs by natural selection . Natural selection is the process that results in living things with beneficial traits producing more offspring than others. This results in changes in the traits of living things over time.

In Darwin’s day, most people believed that all species were created at the same time and remained unchanged thereafter. They also believed that Earth was only about 6,000 years old. Therefore, Darwin’s ideas revolutionized biology. How did Darwin come up with these important ideas? It all started when he went on a voyage.

The Voyage of the Beagle

In 1831, when Darwin was just 22 years old, he set sail on a scientific expedition on a ship called the HMS Beagle . He was the naturalist on the voyage. As a naturalist, it was his job to observe and collect specimens of plants, animals, rocks, and fossils wherever the expedition went ashore. The route the ship took and the stops they made are shown in the Figure below . You can learn more about Darwin’s voyage at this link:www.aboutdarwin.com/voyage/voyage03.html.

Route of the voyage of the Beagle

Voyage of the Beagle . This map shows the route of Darwin’s 5-year voyage on the HMS Beagle . Each stop along the way is labeled. Darwin and the others on board eventually circled the globe.

Darwin was fascinated by nature, so he loved his job on the Beagle . He spent more than 3 years of the 5-year trip exploring nature on distant continents and islands. While he was away, a former teacher published Darwin’s accounts of his observations. By the time Darwin finally returned to England, he had become famous as a naturalist.

Darwin’s Observations

During the long voyage, Darwin made many observations that helped him form his theory of evolution. For example:

  • He visited tropical rainforests and other new habitats where he saw many plants and animals he had never seen before (see Figure below ). This impressed him with the great diversity of life.
  • He experienced an earthquake that lifted the ocean floor 2.7 meters (9 feet) above sea level. He also found rocks containing fossil sea shells in mountains high above sea level. These observations suggested that continents and oceans had changed dramatically over time and continue to change in dramatic ways.
  • He visited rock ledges that had clearly once been beaches that had gradually built up over time. This suggested that slow, steady processes also change Earth’s surface.
  • He dug up fossils of gigantic extinct mammals, such as the ground sloth (see Figure below ). This was hard evidence that organisms looked very different in the past. It suggested that living things—like Earth’s surface—change over time.

Animals in the Galapagos: giant marine iguana, blue-footed booby, giant ground sloth

On his voyage, Darwin saw giant marine iguanas and blue-footed boobies. He also dug up the fossil skeleton of a giant ground sloth like the one shown here. From left: Giant Marine Iguana, Blue-Footed Boobies, and Fossil Skeleton of a Giant Ground Sloth

The Galápagos Islands

Darwin’s most important observations were made on the Galápagos Islands (see map in Figure below ). This is a group of 16 small volcanic islands 966 kilometers (600 miles) off the west coast of Ecuador, South America.

Map of the Galapagos

Galápagos Islands. This map shows the location of the Galápagos Islands that Darwin visited on his voyage.

Individual Galápagos islands differ from one another in important ways. Some are rocky and dry. Others have better soil and more rainfall. Darwin noticed that the plants and animals on the different islands also differed. For example, the giant tortoises on one island had saddle-shaped shells, while those on another island had dome-shaped shells (see Figure below ). People who lived on the islands could even tell the island a turtle came from by its shell. This started Darwin thinking about the origin of species. He wondered how each island came to have its own type of tortoise.

Galapagos tortoises

Galápagos Tortoises. Galápagos tortoises have differently shaped shells depending on which island they inhabit. Tortoises with saddle-shaped shells can reach up to eat plant leaves above their head. Tortoises with dome-shaped shells cannot reach up in this way. These two types of tortoises live on islands with different environments and food sources. How might this explain the differences in their shells?

The Farallon Islands – "California's Galapagos"

One of the most productive marine food webs on the planet is located on the Farallon Islands, just 28 miles off the San Francisco, California coast. These islands also host the largest seabird breeding colony in the continental United States, with over 300,000 breeding seabirds. The islands are known as the Galapagos of California. Why? Find out at http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/...ias-galapagos/ .

  • Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection states that living things with beneficial traits produce more offspring than others do. This produces changes in the traits of living things over time.
  • During his voyage on the Beagle , Darwin made many observations that helped him develop his theory of evolution.
  • Darwin's most important observations were made on the Galápagos Islands.

Explore More

Use this resource to answer the questions that follow.

  • Beagle Voyage at http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/s...beagle-voyage/ .
  • Describe Darwin's role on the Beagle.
  • Salvador, Brazil,
  • Punta Alta, Argentina,
  • Chiloe Island, Chile,
  • Galapagos Islands,
  • Sydney, Australia.
  • State the two main ideas in Darwin's theory.
  • What was Darwin's role on the Beagle?
  • Describe two observations Darwin made on his voyage on the Beagle that helped him develop his theory of evolution.
  • Why did Darwin’s observations of Galápagos tortoises cause him to wonder how species originate?

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A painting of a ship in a bay

  • HISTORY MAGAZINE

Darwin's first—and only—trip around the world began a scientific revolution

The plants and animals encountered on the five-year voyage of the 'Beagle' provided the foundation for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

During August 1831 Charles Darwin , recently graduated from the University of Cambridge, was stuck at home on exactly the same principle, he complained, as a person would choose to remain in a debtors’ prison. At age 22, Darwin was fascinated by the natural world and inspired by the adventure stories of the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt , whose travels across Central and South America in the early 1800s was the basis of a series of extensive travelogues. Darwin was desperate to undertake a similar scientific odyssey. An attempt to organize an expedition to Tenerife in the Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa, had fallen through.

A drawing of Charles Darwin

The awful necessity of earning his own living, probably as the vicar of a country parish, seemed inescapable. And then a letter arrived offering Darwin an amazing opportunity. The writer was one of Darwin’s former teachers, John Stevens Henslow, professor of botany at Cambridge. Henslow informed Darwin that he had recommended him to accompany Captain Robert FitzRoy on an expedition aboard the H.M.S. Beagle . He wrote: “I state this not on the supposition of yr. being a finished Naturalist, but as amply qualified for collecting, observing, & noting any thing worthy . . . in Natural History.”

Robert FitzRoy was an aristocratic but mercurial naval captain. In 1826 he had set off as a crew member on the Beagle to carry out a survey of South America. In the course of the voyage, he was placed in command of the expedition, from which he returned in 1830. The letter from Henslow to Darwin was written as FitzRoy was under instructions from the Admiralty to mount a second survey expedition to Tierra del Fuego, an archipelago at the tip of South America. The primary motive of the voyage was to chart the coast of South America. A secondary motive was scientific exploration. FitzRoy wanted a naturalist aboard, both to carry out scientific work and to keep him company.

A drawing of scholars at a university

Despite Henslow’s recommendation, however, Darwin’s place was not immediately assured. FitzRoy’s first impression of the young naturalist was not entirely favorable. Darwin’s father expressed skepticism at the expense and dangerous nature of the venture. The Beagle was the overcrowded home to a total crew of 74. Shipwreck was a common hazard, death through disease an even greater one, and much of South America was lawless. To try to convince his father, Darwin sought help from his mother’s brother, the industrialist Josiah Wedgwood II. Wedgwood’s daughter Emma had been a childhood friend of Darwin’s, and the two first cousins would later marry, in 1839.

purpose of the beagle voyage

Setting sail

In the end both FitzRoy and his father were persuaded that he should go, and on December 27, 1831, the Beagle sailed out of Plymouth with Darwin on board. Originally planned for two years, the voyage stretched to five, and took Darwin not only to South America but to Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and many of the Atlantic and Pacific islands in between. Darwin often left the ship to travel hundreds of miles on horseback.

Life aboard the Beagle

A drawing of a ship on the ocean

First launched in 1820, the Beagle started life as a brig (a swift two-masted vessel), 90 feet long and 25 feet wide. It was reconditioned as a three-masted bark in 1825, and later set off to South America under the command of Pringle Stokes. Stokes died during the mission, and Robert FitzRoy took command. On the Beagle’ s return in 1830, it was remodeled again for a second surveying expedition in which Darwin would participate (1831-36); the route would take the Beagle to South America and then make a circumnavigation of the globe.

The 74-person crew for this second voyage consisted of officers, midshipmen, sailors and porters, and marines, who all formed the naval crew; in addition, there were nine noncommissioned members, including Darwin. It was a large crew for a ship of such modest dimensions, as Darwin wrote: “The vessel is a very small one . . . but every body says it is the best sort for our work . . . The want of room is very bad, but we must make the best of it.”

Darwin spent most of his time in the stern where Captain FitzRoy’s cabin was located. Darwin’s cabin was outfitted with a folding bunk and bookshelves. He also had a chest in which to store the samples collected ashore. Darwin soon felt at ease on the Beagle. He wrote in February 1832: “I find to my great surprise that a ship is singularly comfortable for all sorts of work. Everything is so close at hand, & being cramped, make one so methodical, that in the end I have been a gainer. I already have got to look at going to sea as a regular quiet place, like going back to home after staying away from it.”

In the course of this extraordinary journey, he filled notebook after notebook with sketches and observations. Darwin shipped home barrels, boxes, and bottles by the dozen, filled with pressed plants, fossils, rocks, skins, and skeletons. He explored landscapes that ranged from the gray desolation of the Falklands to the glorious heights of the Andes, from the wild glaciated cliffs of the Beagle Channel to the beaches of Tahiti, from the tropical lushness of Rio to the dripping rainforest of southern Chile.

Early observations

First landfall was the volcanic island of St. Jago (now Santiago) in the Cape Verde Islands. After three weeks of seasickness, Darwin threw himself enthusiastically into his first independent fieldwork, identifying rock samples and recording a cross section of the volcanic strata. He had the best equipment he could buy: a microscope, a clinometer for measuring angles, geological hammers, and a vasculum (a container for botanical specimens), but he was still a novice. He boasted in a letter to his Cambridge teacher, John Stevens Henslow, that his discovery of a color-changing octopus “appears to be new.” It wasn’t, and Henslow gently disabused him. ( Here's how animals are able to manipulate their color. )

a drawer full of twenty of so mollusk shells

By February 15, 1832, they were resupplying on the remote rocky islets of St. Paul’s, and two weeks later, the Beagle crossed the Equator and reached the coast of Brazil. Darwin, however, injured in the final leg of the journey, was forced to stay on board, so it was April before he first set foot in South America, at Botafogo Bay near Rio de Janeiro.

For the next few months as the crew of the Beagle sailed up and down the coast checking and rechecking naval charts, Darwin stayed ashore, happily exploring the Corcovado mountains near Rio, shifting from geology to zoology and building an impressive collection of spiders and wasps .

A man of letters

a golden sextant

During the Beagle ’s voyage, Darwin famously amassed a huge scientific collection of plants and animals, but another important legacy is his prolific and detailed correspondence with family and friends. The letters reflect Darwin’s mood over the five years of the voyage and—despite the ups and downs—suggest he was never disheartened. His words to his loved ones also expose the man behind the scientist. His humanity and personality quirks are on full display—from delighting in his private cabin on the ship to asking his sisters to mail him more “Prometheans,” or matches.

The ship went south again at the end of June. This time he went, too, encountering porpoises, whales, penguins, and seals. The expedition dropped anchor at the end of July at the mouth of the majestic Río de la Plata. Both Montevideo on the north bank, where they helped put down a revolt, and Buenos Aires on the south bank, where they were fired on as suspected cholera-carriers, were dangerous places. The flat and empty landscape seemed to Darwin a poor exchange for the lushness of the tropics. (Related: The tropics are home to 80 percent of the world's species, but they're losing wildlife fast. )

All the while, Darwin’s collections were annoying the ship’s purser who complained about the clutter. Darwin had already learned some taxidermy, and now experimented with other ways of preserving unfamiliar specimens using wax, spirits, and thin sheets of lead—with mixed results. ( See how one museum moved hundreds of taxidermy animals. )

Darwin's birds

A drawing of two birds

The first letters from home brought criticism and advice from Henslow, on whose doorstep Darwin’s treasures were landing. It is another reminder of how Darwin's voyage was a learning experience: His labels weren’t securely fixed, beetles had been crushed, mice had gone moldy, and one mystery bottle looked like “the remains of an electric explosion, a mere mass of soot.”

By September 1832 they were surveying the coast of Argentina. Already a good shot, Darwin learned to use a bola (a weighted lasso) to bring down ostriches and took time off from “admiring the Spanish ladies” to discover his first large fossilized vertebrate—a Megatherium, an extinct species of giant ground sloth. Darwin’s curiosity was piqued by its similarity to a species of agouti, a rodent native to South America. In November he returned to Buenos Aires to restock for the voyage to Cape Horn.

an icy bay

A year after leaving home, the Beagle , like the Endeavour of Captain Cook and Joseph Banks before it, finally anchored in the Bay of Good Success on the coast of Tierra del Fuego. It was magnificent but inhospitable country. They spent Christmas on Hermit Island, just west of the cape, but were repeatedly beaten back by gales. One of their whaleboats was smashed against the ship in a storm, and Darwin lost notes and specimens.

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After arriving at Ponsonby Sound, FitzRoy and some of the crew, including Darwin, headed off in two of the ship’s boats on a 300-mile round trip to chart the farther reaches of the Beagle Channel, named for FitzRoy’s first adventures there. It was spectacular country. Darwin’s letters home glitter with descriptions of the glaciers’ beauty. But they were dangerous as well: When a large sheet of ice crashed into the water sending a surge along the shore toward their boats, it was Darwin who led the desperate race to drag them to safety. FitzRoy named the place Darwin Sound in his honor.

Reptilian relationships

lizards in two jars

On April 18, 1835 Darwin wrote a long letter from Valparaíso (Chile) to his friend and former teacher, the botanist and geologist John Stevens Henslow. He described the local lizards and invited his colleagues’ opinions. Darwin's methodical approach to research and his generosity and openness to academic cooperation is on full display: “I also send a small bottle with 2 Lizards: one of them is Viviparous, as you will see by the accompanying notice.” Darwin had heard of a French scholar who had found a similar lizard, so he urged his friend to “hand over the Specimens to some good Lizardologist & Comparative Anatomist to publish an account of their internal structure.”

Foiled in their attempt to round the cape, they sailed east and on March 1, 1833, arrived at the Falkland Islands where the navy was keen to discover safe harbors. Concerned that the Beagle crew alone could not complete their mission, FitzRoy bought another boat: the Adventure. Both ships returned in April to Montevideo, where Darwin set off on his first long inland expedition, accompanied by the Beagle’ s cabin boy, Syms Covington, whom Darwin had hired as combined servant and research assistant. They did not rendezvous with the ship until September, in Buenos Aires.

Rounding the Cape

Both the Beagle and the Adventure headed south in December, retracing the route of the previous year as far as Tierra del Fuego. There, Darwin finally found something he had been looking for: a new species of rhea (originally named Rhea darwinii ), an ostrich-like bird—but only after half of it had been eaten for the crew’s dinner.

By March 1834 they were once again forced to head back to the Falklands without rounding the cape. The Beagle’ s keel had been badly damaged, so by the middle of April it was beached at the mouth of the Rio Santa Cruz for repairs. FitzRoy took advantage of the opportunity to mount an expedition upriver. They rowed and dragged the boats 140 miles through uncharted territory. It took three weeks to go up and three days to sail back down, Darwin all the while was adding to his observations. ( These scientists spent months exploring the Okavango delta. )

Darwin's fossils

a large animal skeleton

After the Beagle was repaired, it made a third attempt to round the cape. Perhaps the third time was the charm, because this time they made it. In June 1834 the expedition finally reached the west coast of South America.

The next year was spent following the coastline of Chile and Peru in much the same manner as the previous two and a half years had been spent in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina: The Beagle followed a switchback course, surveying and resurveying the complex archipelago of the coastline.

Darwin loathed the incessantly dripping and impenetrable temperate rainforest of southern Chile, and was frequently absent organizing his own inland expeditions. He traveled southeast through the Andes from the colonial elegance of Valparaíso to Santiago. It was largely uncharted, so he relied on the help of locals who drew maps, advised on safe routes, and helped hire guides and horses. One looked after him for several weeks when he fell dangerously ill, probably with typhoid fever. Meanwhile FitzRoy felt isolated, overworked, and depressed. The Admiralty’s unwillingness to shoulder the cost of the Adventur e forced him to sell the ship, after which he threatened to resign. The future of the voyage hung in the balance.

giant tortoises in a pond

Darwin made one more major land expedition, traveling 220 miles from Valparaíso through the Andes to Coquimbo and Copiapó, before rejoining the Beagle to sail to Iquique in Peru. From Lima they sailed west at the end of July 1835 and arrived at the Galápagos archipelago in mid-September.

They spent five weeks exploring the islands, each with its own distinctive flora and fauna. Darwin, still months from forming even a rudimentary theory on how species might evolve over time, filed new facts away with each species he came across. Although the Galápagos, and their finches and great tortoises are closely connected in the popular imagination with the origins of his ideas about species change, Darwin did not conceive of his famous hypothesis on that visit. ( Turns out Galápagos tortoises migrate—just very slowly. )

an old map

Darwin’s observations on this trip led to a different grand, scientific theory. In the Andes, in the Uspallata Pass, he had noticed something curious: fossilized trees that he realized must once have been submerged in the sea. The question in Darwin’s mind was how had they been raised so high up in the mountains.

On January 19, 1835, while Darwin was exploring inland, the Beagle crew had witnessed the eruption of the Osorno Volcano in Chile. A month later, farther up the coast, an earthquake struck and caused a tidal wave. Darwin began to speculate that the events might be connected. FitzRoy reviewed earlier soundings and confirmed the height of the land had changed. Armed with this information, Darwin proposed a theory of continental-scale fall and uplift, with tiny changes working over eons to create dramatic landscapes like those in the Andes.

a small island

With this in mind, when they arrived in Tahiti and Darwin saw his first coral reef, he proposed a brilliant new solution to the mystery of how such reefs were formed. His letters describing his ideas were, unbeknownst to him, appearing in scientific journals, and he would return with an already established scientific reputation. But he wasn’t home yet. As they sailed west from the coast of Africa, FitzRoy had found errors in the very first charts they had made, and diverted across the Atlantic to resurvey the coast of Brazil.

The Beagle finally docked at Falmouth on October 2, 1836. Darwin never left Britain again, but he maintained a robust correspondence with his colleagues all over the world about the work done on the voyage. He went on to publish more than 20 articles from his notes and diaries written aboard the Beagle. He published books, became a best-selling travel writer, and a leading scientist.

Evolution of a theory

the first page of Darwin's book

It is likely that during his trip aboard the Beagle Darwin may have already been beginning to sketch a first outline of his theory of evolution. Immediately after returning to London, he began to work on the theory in earnest, albeit secretly, in his private notebooks. He drafted a first brief treatise that he kept hidden for fear of the scandal it would provoke. As early as 1837 (a year after his return on the Bea- gle ), he drew a “tree of life” to illustrate the evolution—or “transmutation” as he then termed it—of species. It was not until 1859 that Darwin published the final version of his theory, spurred to do so by the publication of similar ideas by the English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace.

The work of identifying hundreds of specimens was parceled out to others, many of whom became lifelong friends and colleagues. Although not conceived during the voyage, Darwin’s ideas about species change were born not only out of his encounters with so many different plants and animals (including humans), but, most importantly, through the opportunity to see them in all the complexity of their shared habitats. Many years later, Darwin had no hesitation in declaring the voyage of the Beagle the single most important event of his life.

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The Five Year Voyage

The voyage of the HMS Beagle took place during a time of exploration of uncharted waters and discovery of new lands. Charles Darwin was a passenger aboard the Beagle between 1832 to 1836. The crew of the Beagle had been given the objective of surveying the South American coast, which involved making maps and drawing accurate pictures as well as exploring! On these pages, you can discover all about this very important journey…

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Would you name it after yourself? Yes! No! vote

A journey into the unknown.

It was an exciting time to be an explorer! The huge, unexplored world meant lots of opportunities for mapping newly discovered places, cataloging new bizarre species found, and making sense of the world. The purpose of the Beagle’s voyage was to survey the coast of South America. Charles Darwin was invited on board as the Captain’s Companion and naturalist . In his time aboard the Beagle, Darwin would describe and collect many new types of animals and plants. Some would be used for research while others would sent to museums or acquired by individuals for private collections.

The Beagle was made entirely of wood, and had been converted from a warship to an exploratory ship with much care and to great expense. Weighing in at 235 tons, the ship was armed with seven guns and had been re-fitted with a new deck, under orders of Captain Fitzroy . The raised deck helped stabilise it in the water as this class of ship had a bad habit of sinking. In the Navy, they were often known as  coffin brigs ! I wonder if Darwin knew this before he agreed to embark on the voyage?

It was powered by sails, and was considered to be the fifth fastest vessel in England at the time! With between 60 and 73 crew on board the Beagle, living conditions were very cramped on the rather small vessel. Darwin had to sleep in the small poop cabin in a hammock he strung up every evening over the chart table…

I intend sleeping in my hammock, I did so last night and experienced a most ludicrous difficulty in getting into it; my great fault of jockeyship was in trying to put my legs in first. The hammock being suspended I thus only succeeded in pushing [it] away without making any progress in inserting my own body.

A cross section of HMS Beagle

The crew quarters on hms beagle, captain fitzroy, hm beagle laid ashore, stepping foot on galapagos.

The Beagle set off from Plymouth, England, reaching the Galapagos Islands on 15 September 1835, after nearly four years of travelling the world. The visit to the Galapagos would prove the starting point from which Darwin would begin to explore and develop ideas about the natural world, eventually leading to his revolutionary theory of evolution through natural selection. He would become one of the greatest scientific thinkers of his time.

Like many visitors to the Islands before him, Darwin considered them bleak and ugly. He had only 34 days to collect species and record observations around the Islands. Darwin was an avid collector of fossils, animals and plants, and during his voyage he took extensive notes on all he observed. He described the natural history of Galapagos as…

…very remarkable: it seems to be a little world within itself; the greater number of its inhabitants, both vegetable and animal, being found nowhere else.

Darwin travelled around the Galapagos Islands for 5 weeks visiting:

  • San Cristobal 17 – 22 September
  • Floreana 24 – 27 September
  • Isabela 29 September – 02 October
  • Santiago 08 – 17 October

Click on the buttons to discover more about what Darwin found on each of the Islands!

San Cristóbal | Isabela | Floreana | Santiago

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Darwin’s voyage: HMS Beagle 1831-1836

Wednesday 7 October 2009 | Past Masters | Audio , Military history , Military history audio , Podcasts , Social history , Social history audio | 2 comments

In 1831, in his twenties and fresh out of university, Charles Darwin set sail aboard HMS Beagle on the expedition of a lifetime, into literally uncharted waters and a series of discoveries that would form the basis of his later pioneering work on the origin of species. Join the Past Masters team as we delve into the Archives to find out where Darwin went, what life on the Beagle was like and to discover how the most exciting gap year in history went on to change the face of science.

Further Information

You can also read more of Darwin’s letters at the Darwin Correspondence Project and all his published works (including the complete Beagle diary) at The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online . Aboutdarwin.com is an excellent online introduction to Darwin’s life and scientific work.

Document gallery

Transcription.

Bob: Hi there, welcome to Past Masters, from the National Archives in London. I’m Bob and this is-

Bob: And this is the very first episode in a new series of podcasts where each month we will take a look at a different historical event with the help of a few items from the staggering 178 kilometres of collections we have here at the Archives. Do you want to tell the listening world what we’ve got in store for them?

Jo: Pfff. Gosh. Love letters, secret service files, six million maps, Christmas cards, photographs, bar bills, signed confessions, lost property-

Bob: I meant this month.

Jo: Ah, oh yes. This month we are going back to the 1830s. In December 1831, Charles Darwin accepted his first job out of university and at 22 set sail aboard HMS Beagle for South America.

Bob: 22? It’s really hard to think of him being young.

Jo: You need to get those old beardy pictures out of your head. This might be the most important gap year in history. In five years away from home Darwin ate armadillo in Patagonia, made Chilean girls blush, took hallucinogenic drugs, met the Queen of Tahiti, saw cities destroyed and collected plants and animals previously unknown to science.

Bob: Not all at the same time.

Jo: The voyage makes Darwin question some of the most basic scientific principles of his age; ultimately he goes on to rewrite not only science but the whole of human history.

Bob: I’ve got a bunch of stuff from the Archive.

Jo: And so have I.

Bob: And between us and our very talented actors reading from documents from inside and outside the Archives, we are going to try to find out what life aboard the Beagle was like and exactly how the voyage influenced Darwin’s ideas. I’m ready for some titles, I don’t know about you.

Jo: Absolutely.

[Titles] Bob: So what was Darwin doing on the Beagle in the first place?

Jo: Usually the Ship’s Surgeon is in charge of the science aboard ship. He would be the one to collect and examine the plant and animal species that the ship might come across. But Robert Fitzroy, Captain of the Beagle doesn’t rate his surgeon. He wants a University trained expert aboard. Partly it’s to keep him company.

Bob: Ah, the loneliness of command.

Jo: Pretty much. Halfway through the Beagle’s first surveying mission Captain Stokes locked the door to his cabin and shot himself in the head. It wasn’t a clean shot and he took almost two weeks to die. Fitzroy doesn’t want to go the same way.

Bob: Can’t blame him. Quick change of subject. What’s in those big blue boxes you brought in?

Jo: If I undo these fastenings and pull one out you can see the original handwritten Captain’s Logs of the Beagle.

Bob: Oh wow, so what is Captain Fitzroy writing about? His fiancée in England?

Jo: It’s not exactly that sort of log.

Bob: You mean, he’s not pouring his heart out to it every night?

Jo: No. It’s mainly a very precise record of exactly where the ship sails and the sailing conditions: bearings, wind speed and direction, adjustments to the sails. That sort of thing.

Bob: It’s an official document for the admiralty?

Jo: Yes. But it also shows the pattern of daily life on board ship. And you get a real sense of Fitzroy’s personality from a log entry like:

Fitzroy: Captain’s Log, Monday 26th November 1832. Off Monte Video. Noon…Waiting for Mr. Rowlett, purser, who has not completed his accounts according to positive orders and by his extreme neglect prevented the ship sailing…At 8, ship still waiting. [ADM 51/3054]

Bob: Hmm. Likes things just so.

Jo: Exactly. And that’s how he comes to hire Darwin. Even though he is surrounded by talented officers, Fitzroy wants someone on board who can get the maximum scientific benefit out of the voyage and Darwin ends up being it. He’s not even the first choice, he’s just in the right place at the right time.

Bob: So what is the Beagle actually doing? Why is the expedition happening?

Jo: Captain Fitzroy has been instructed by the Department of Hydrography at the Admiralty to prepare maps of the coast of South America.

Bob: You mean like this one? [FO 925/1220]

Jo: Um. Yes. What’s this exactly?

Bob: This is an 1840 Admiralty map of the east coast of Argentina made from the records kept by the Beagle: Patagonia from Rio Negro to Cape Three Points. There’s an incredible amount of detail around the coastline. You see all the tiny numbers?

Bob: They represent hundreds of depth soundings the Beagle took to help British ships navigate safely along the coast.

Jo: That’s the plan. It’s a round the world tour with a bit of exploring thrown in.

Bob: Who could turn that down?

Jo: Funny story.

Darwin: September the 1st, Shrewsbury. Sir, I take the liberty of writing to you…to acquaint you with my acceptance of the offer of going with Captain Fitzroy…perhaps you may have received a letter…stating my refusal; this was owing to my father not at first approving of the plan, since which time he has reconsidered…therefore if the appointment is not already filled up I shall be very happy to have the honour of accepting it…I remain sir, your humble and obedient servant Charles Darwin. [ADM 1/4541]

Bob: Why is a 22 year old man having to wait for his Dad to say if he can go on a trip or not?

Jo: Darwin isn’t getting paid by the Navy for the voyage, he’s travelling on the Beagle as a passenger, not crew. So it’s Robert Darwin’s money that will make it happen and he thinks the voyage is a very long distraction from proper work. Robert wants Charles to be a clergyman. Now the upside of not working for the Admiralty is Darwin can decide how he wants to go about his research. The downside is he has to find the cash to pay for it.

Bob: How much does it all cost?

Jo: Oh a fortune. His father spends six hundred pounds equipping Darwin for the voyage. He also pays the Navy fifty pounds a year for Darwin’s meals.

Bob: He eats with Captain Fitzroy?

Jo: That’s right. He spends another sixty pounds a year to hire one of the ship’s crew as Darwin’s servant. And that’s just the cost of keeping him aboard. Ashore Darwin travels collecting specimens and hires guides, horses, baggage. It all adds up to over twelve hundred pounds – in today’s money almost a million. But Robert Darwin’s a rich man.

Bob: How much time does Darwin spend ashore?

Jo: Of the five year voyage Darwin actually spent over three years on land collecting plants and animals and examining geology.

Bob: So the Beagle actually spends most of its time in harbour?

Jo: Well, often it’s out surveying near a port while Darwin is further inland, but yes, quite a bit of the time.

Bob: Doesn’t that mean that the sailors aren’t doing that much?

Jo: Not according to the log. If you take a random week when the Beagle’s in port, mid-January 1832 say, you can see the log’s completely full. “Employed turning in and setting up lower rigging afresh.” “Loose lower yards to refit”. “Ropemaker making spun yarn. Armourer at forge.” “Watering ship”. Keeping the ship supplied and the sails in proper order was a full time job.

Fitzroy: Captain’s Log, Monday 27th August 1832. At 6, fell overboard and was lost by the carriage breaking, the 4lb howitzer…September 1st, in heaving up, found the shank of the anchor broken.

Jo: Any damage has to repaired quickly or it could affect the seaworthiness of the ship. And it has to be done properly, because if anything happens the chances of another ship being around to help you are very, very small indeed.

Bob: And the Beagle’s covering vast distances.

Jo: Plymouth to Rio, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Patagonia, the Falklands, the Galapagos, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia.

Bob: Tell me about the ship? Is it big?

Jo: No. The Beagle’s less than thirty metres long and not quite eight metres wide. It’s got a crew of 75. There’s not a lot of personal space going on.

Bob: How does Darwin settle in on board?

Jo: Not that well according to his diary.

[Creaking of ship’s timbers]

Darwin: 29th December 1831. We are in the Bay of Biscay and there is a good deal of swell on the sea. I have felt a good deal of nausea several times in the day…the misery…far exceeds what a person would suppose who had never been at sea more than a few days…the only thing my stomach w[ill] bear are biscuits and raisins…But the only sure thing is lying down.

Jo: And he’s not the only one feeling bad. The crew celebrated Christmas Day by getting very, very drunk and the log tells us what happened next.

[The sound of sailors being whipped?]

Fitzroy: Wednesday 28th December 1831. Disrated: William Bruce, able seaman to landsmen for breaking his leave, drunkenness and fighting….Punished: John Bruce, 25 lashes for drunkenness, quarrelling and insolence. David Russel, carpenter’s crew, with 34 lashes for breaking his leave and disobedience of orders. James Phipps, with 44 lashes for breaking his leave, drunkenness and insolence. Elias Davis, 31 lashes for repeated neglect of duty.

Bob: Wow, does that happen a lot?

Jo: Only a few times a year. And generally sailors who have been punished once don’t commit another offence.

Bob: And is it always for drinking?

Jo: Overwhelmingly, yes.

Bob: Where do they get the booze?

Jo: From ashore. Or the ship has vast stores. The log records all the supplies bought for the crew.

Fitzroy: 19th November 1832. Received provisions from His Majesty’s Ship Pylades…74 lbs of fresh beef, 37 lbs of vegetables…310 lbs suet, 10 bushels of peas, 5 bushels of oatmeal, sugar 735 lbs…Rum 484 gallons, Bread 3300 lbs…raisins 1360 lbs, [beans] 50 bushels…cocoa 740 lbs, tea 240 lbs. Vinegar 100 gallons, tobacco 1520 lbs, soap 375 lbs.

Bob: So they smoke more than they wash but get quite a varied diet?

Jo: Yes, and they can supplement it with whatever animals they can catch That can be a problem for Darwin. Animals are less interesting to him once they’ve been stewed and eaten by the crew.

Bob: Did that really happen?

Jo: Darwin liked to tell the story about how, halfway through a delicious meal of ostrich, he suddenly realised that the animal was a species that he didn’t recognise. He had to scrape together the leftovers for his collection. Afterwards it was named Rhea Darwinii in his honour and the way it was different from other Rhea eventually began to give him ideas about speciation; the way in which species develop.

Bob: Lucky the sailors didn’t eat quicker.  Were they a scurvy crew of villainous swabs?

Jo: Have you been watching Pirates of the Caribbean again?

Bob: …No.

Jo: Actually they were a talented bunch. Five of the officers later became admirals. There were three doctors, two artists, an instrument maker, a future MP; these are capable professionals – much more experienced than Darwin. And there’s no scurvy because the doctors on board know the importance of sailors eating the right things.

Fitzroy: Saturday 3rd of January 1835. Moored in Patch Cove, Anna Pitch Bay. AM. Employed mending clothes. Issued pickles to ships company.

Jo: The latest in food technology.

Bob: So they’re healthy?

Jo: Generally.

Fitzroy: 19th May 1832. [At] 8.45 departed this life Mr. Charles Musters, volunteer 1st class…At 1.30 sent the body of the deceased on shore for internment attended by the officers and ships company.

Bob: Is this ship a deathtrap? Crammed full and with really poor sanitation?

Jo: The ship is full but the crew take care to keep things as clean as possible.

Fitzroy: 28th January 1832. Scrubbed and washed clothes. Washed lower deck….Slung clean hammocks, sent a party to haul the sluice.

Jo: Everything is cleaned out every few weeks. But over a five year voyage a few things are bound to happen. A couple of crew get ill in the tropics and die, someone falls overboard. One man dives for a particularly interesting specimen of duck and drowns.

Bob: A few months on a ship and everyone thinks they’re a naturalist.

Jo: Well Darwin isn’t the only one doing science. Many of the ship’s officers were interested in the natural world. After the voyage Captain Fitzroy complained that the crew didn’t get any credit in Darwin’s books even though they had collected a number of the specimens he wrote about. Fitzroy is interested in weather and in the back of each Beagle Log he sets out his own method of describing weather conditions using the new Beaufort Scale to record the strength of the winds from 1 to 12 with a series of letter codes to describe atmospheric conditions.

Fitzroy: By the combination of these letters, all the ordinary phenomena of the weather may be employed with facility and brevity.

Bob: How do Fitzroy and Darwin get on?

Jo: Fitzroy’s a talented officer but he’s quite a difficult character, very moody. He can be quite hard on the crew.

Darwin: His temper was generally worse in the early morning, and with his eagle eye he could generally detect something amiss about the ship and was unsparing in his blame. The Junior Officers…used to ask ‘whether much hot coffee had been served out this morning?’ which meant, how was the captain’s temper?

Bob: But Darwin doesn’t spend that much time with him if he’s on shore all the time.

Jo: Do you want to talk about what Darwin is getting up to on dry land?

Bob: I could do a bit of that. Pay attention, because here comes the science bit.

[The sound of an earthquake]

Fitzroy: Tuesday 3rd of March 1835. At 10.26 felt the shock of an earthquake. Wednesday 4th, PM. At 12.10 shortened all sail and came to…observed the town of Talcahuano in ruins.

Bob: Talcahuano had been destroyed by a tsunami, a massive wave caused by the quake. Further inland the town of Concepcion was left with hardly a building standing. But in the middle of the catastrophic destruction, Darwin noticed something on one of the nearby islands.

[Sound of waves on the shore]

Darwin: During my walk round the island I observed that numerous fragments of rock, which, from the marine animals adhering to them must recently have been lying in deep water, had been cast high up on the beach: one of these was a slab six feet by three square and about two thick. The Island itself showed the effects of the Earthquake, as plainly as the beach did that of the consequent great wave.

Bob: On previous visits Fitzroy had taken depth soundings, now new soundings proved that the earthquake had raised the level of the sea bed. Darwin was seeing first hand a process that he had only read about in books as a theory. That forces at work within the planet could over time cause land from deep under the sea to rise to the tops of mountains.

Jo: How much time?

Bob: He doesn’t talk about that yet but he must have begun to understand that it would take a very long time indeed. Much longer than the 6000 years which were generally supposed to have passed since the Earth was created. But even though he’s making extraordinary discoveries like the Rhinoderma Darwinii-

Jo: The what?

Bob: Darwin’s Frog. The young are born out of the male’s mouth.

Bob: So he’s starting to see geology and wildlife that just don’t seem to fit how 1830s science says the world works. Like in Australia.

[The sound of crickets at night]

Fitzroy: Tuesday January 19th 1836. Moored in Sydney Cove.

Darwin: In the dusk of the evening I took a stroll along a chain of ponds, which in this dry country represent the course of a river and had the good fortune to see several of the famous [platypuses]…They were diving and playing about the surface of the water…Mr Browne shot one; certainly it is a most extraordinary animal…Earlier in the [day], I had been lying on a sunny bank and was reflecting on the strange character of the Animals of this country as compared to the rest of the World. A disbeliever in everything beyond his own reason, might exclaim “Surely two distinct Creators must have been [at] work.”

Jo: Is Darwin a disbeliever?

Bob: I think, like any good scientist, he’s asking questions. Are you going to talk about the end of the Voyage?

Jo: Well Australia’s nearly it. Obviously they have to spend months on board the ship getting back to England. It takes them from about March to September of 1836 and you can tell they’re getting a bit restless because they start counting down the miles in the log 414, 327, 177. They first catch sight of England again on 2nd October 1836 and land in Falmouth the next day. After almost five years away, Darwin is absolutely delighted to be home.

Darwin: Shrewsbury, Thursday morning 6th October 1836. My dear Fitzroy. I arrived here yesterday morning at breakfasttime, and, thank God, found all my dear good sisters and father quite well. My father appears more cheerful and very little older than when I left. My sisters assure me I do not look the least different, and I am able to return the compliment. Indeed all England appears changed excepting the good old town of Shrewsbury and its inhabitants, which, for all I can see to the contrary, may go on as they are now until Domesday…The stupid people on the coach did not seem to think the fields one bit greener than usual; but I’m sure we should have thoroughly agreed that the whole wide world does not contain so happy a prospect as the rich cultivated land of England.

Bob: I suppose he’s missed quite a bit.

Jo: Yep. Four Prime Ministers, the abolition of slavery, reform of the child labour laws, the founding of the Conservative Party and the Poor Law Amendment Act which creates workhouses. Parliament’s been quite busy.

Bob: Darwin gets to work straight away too. Within months of arriving home he’s presenting a paper to the Geological Society on the Andes mountain range and then to the London Zoological Society on his rhea.

Jo: Didn’t he stand up at all?

[Long pause]

Bob: Moving on. He’s got over 1500 specimens in bottles filled with wine spirits and almost 4000 bones, shells, skins and other dry specimens as well as thousands of pages of notes; years of work for him and naturalists across Europe.

Jo: So is that the main legacy of the Beagle expedition?

Bob: Officially it’s the maps. That was the purpose of the voyage. In reality it must be this extraordinary collection of animals and plants but the other thing the expedition does is make sure that there is no chance of Darwin being anything other than a naturalist. There’s no way he’s becoming a vicar after this. It’s science all the way. But let’s go back for a second.

Fitzroy: Thursday 17th September 1835. At anchor in St. Stephen’s Bay…Chatham Island…Galapagos

Bob: When the ship called in at the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador, Darwin was incredibly impressed by the huge diversity of the animal life.

Jo: But that’s as far as it goes?

Bob: Exactly. It’s not until years later that he starts to understand the importance of the differences between the animals on different islands. He collects finches from the Galapagos and these were vital to the development of his work on the origins of species. But at this point in 1835 he doesn’t even know that they are finches because each one is so different. It takes decades for Darwin to understand all the mysteries locked in these specimens and how they adapt to their environment. He spends eight years just studying barnacles.

Jo: Eight years?

Bob: His scientific credibility was absolutely vital in the acceptance of his ideas about species and evolution. In the past, writers had put forward similar views but they had never been argued by such a distinguished scientist who knew so much about the subject. Darwin takes his time and that’s why he’s starting to look like those pictures we know so well with the big beard before he fully publishes his ideas, let alone before they become accepted.

Jo: Do we have any?

Bob: Photographs of Darwin. There are quite a few in the collection actually. I did bring a couple.  [COPY 1/57/225]

Jo: Oh let’s see.

Bob: You can see all the documents we’ve been talking about on the website at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/podcasts . Do you want to finish the story?

Bob: What happens to the Beagle? What happens to Fitzroy?

Jo: Oh, okay, so back to 1836. Beagle’s voyage takes a few weeks longer than Darwin’s. Fitzroy sails her back to London to Woolwich Arsenal and 6 months later the she’s off again under a new commander. Fitzroy writes a long book about the voyage and then goes out to be governor of New Zealand where he gets sacked for being too sympathetic to the Maori, spends a bit more time at sea and then in the 1850s gets heavily into weather forecasting.

Bob: Like in the log.

Jo: Yes.  He publishes his Weather Book in 1863 and produces some of the first scientifically based weather predictions. They’re not very accurate but they’re much better than the old almanacs which used to guess all the weather a year in advance. But the government decides Fitzroy’s job should just be recording weather patterns not forecasting and shuts down the operation and that and his increasing deafness makes him depressed. He kills himself in 1865.

Bob: Oh no.

Jo: I prefer to think of him in his last entry in the Beagle Log.

Fitzroy: Captain’s Log, Thursday 17th November 1836. Woolwich. AM. At 10 sent Ship’s company on shore to the pay office. At 2 paid off the ship’s company and officers. Sunset – struck the pendant. Robert Fitzroy, Captain.

Bob: We’ve ended on a downer, I can’t believe it.

Jo: Darwin has 10 children and becomes the world’s most famous scientist, how’s that? We’ve only scratched the surface of his life and work and Fitzroy’s. There are links on the site at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/podcasts

Bob: That’s a little better. Anything else?

Jo: Next month I’ll be challenging you to a duel.

Bob: I’m sorry?

Jo: Did I not mention? Next episode we’ll be looking at records of duelling in the National Archives. Why duels happen, how they work and what happens to the winners and losers.

Bob: Pistols at dawn.

Jo: I’m not really a morning person. Could we make it some time after lunch?

Bob: Thanks to our readers Andrew Ashmore and Andrew Ormerod.

Jo: See you next month.

darwin , education , evolution , hms beagle , transcription past masters , voyage

purpose of the beagle voyage

Discover more about the ship that took Charles Darwin around the world

Beagle  was a Royal Navy ship, famed for taking English naturalist Charles Darwin on his first expedition around the world in 1831–36.

Beagle was launched at Woolwich Dockyard, London, in 1820. She was originally a 10-gun brig sloop, but as there was no immediate active use for her, she was refitted and allocated as a surveying vessel, under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy. Her most famous passenger was the English naturalist Charles Darwin, who wrote about his five-year expedition aboard her in his travel memoir, The Voyage of the Beagle .

What exploratory voyages did Beagle go on?

Beagle 's first voyage of exploration was to South America, surveying Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego between 1826–30. The second voyage (1831–36) took her to South America and then around the world. Darwin was on board during this voyage, which became one of the most famous and important voyages of exploration ever made. Beagle 's third and final voyage (1837–43) surveyed large parts of the Australian coast.

How big was Beagle ?

The Beagle measured just 27 metres long and seven metres wide, and weighed 235 tons. She underwent a number of improvements throughout her life on the seas. For example, her hull was reinforced and a mizzen-mast (a third mast) was added to make her more manoeuvrable in shallow coastal waters.

What scientific equipment did she carry?

The Beagle voyages under Captain Robert FitzRoy saw the use of scientific technology such as theodolites, chronometers and barometers used to provide accurate survey information for new charts and, equally important, meteorological data and weather forecasting.

The Darwin voyage was the first time the Beaufort wind scale was used for wind observations. The crew also undertook various experiments and, despite some disappointments, they produced useful results. They were especially successful in the measurement of earthquakes during experiments in 1835.

What happened to Beagle ?

She was transferred to the coastguard in 1845 and moored on the River Roach in Essex. She was renamed WV7 – Watch Vessel 7 – in 1859. In 1870 she was sold off to be broken up.

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July 22, 2019

The Voyage of the Beagle and the Future of Space Science

NASA is building a launch system that could lead to discoveries as profound as what Darwin learned during his journey on a British navy vessel

By Heidi B. Hammel & Matt Mountain

purpose of the beagle voyage

Artist's rendering of NASA future Space Launch System (SLS).

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

In 1820, the British Royal Navy was the largest in the world, with so many ships that one extra 10-gun brig-sloop lay idle for more than half a decade before it was refitted to conduct hydrographic surveys. She embarked on several voyages, but it was her second trip that catapulted the ship into world-wide renown. Nearly 200 years later schoolchildren learn her name in history and biology classes.

That ship was the H.M.S Beagle —built for one mission but repurposed to do another.

On its second voyage, the Beagle hosted the recently graduated naturalist Charles Darwin . Over the years during which the survey work was carried out, Darwin spent as much time as possible on shore, studying local geology , natural history and ethnology. He gained fame by publishing his diary, The Voyage of the Beagle . More importantly, his findings were pivotal in the formation of his scientific theories on natural selection and evolution, irreversibly changing our worldview.

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Like the repurposed Beagle , NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS), designed to send humans beyond Earth’s orbit, can also serve another purpose: It can carry robotic spacecraft to the furthest reaches of our solar system.

The dual use of NASA’s rockets for both human spaceflight and robotic science missions is not new; its roots reach back to the Apollo program. James Webb, sometimes called the “architect” of Apollo, was a staunch supporter of robotic missions. In a letter to President Kennedy, he wrote: “The objective of our national space program is to become preeminent in all important aspects of this endeavor and to conduct the program in such a manner that our emerging scientific, technological, and operational competence in space is clearly evident.” Under Webb’s watch, NASA flew more than 75 science missions.

Following Apollo, the era of the space shuttle not only brought us the crewed International Space Station; it also brought us the iconic Hubble Space Telescope, carried aloft with a crew of astronauts aboard the shuttle Discovery . At first, the Hubble looked like a disaster: its light-gathering mirror had been ground to perfection—but with the wrong curvature, making it incapable of making sharp images. But those flawed optics were corrected by astronauts on a later shuttle flight, and subsequently upgraded five times, by astronauts performing the most complex space walks ever choreographed by humankind.

Because of this interwoven tapestry of science and human spaceflight, Hubble revolutionized not only what we understand about the cosmos, but also how we understand it. As important, NASA’s commitment to an enduring science program has provided a steady cadence of breathtaking feats and discoveries, including landing rovers on Mars and sending out probes that orbited Saturn; flew past Pluto; mapped Mercury in astonishing detail; delivered images of galaxies from our infant universe; established that almost every star in the night sky has its own planetary system; and more. This steady stream of science-driven accomplishments has sustained American (indeed, global) public interest in our nation’s space agency.

Today, we are witnessing a renaissance of U.S. space launch investment. From the first super-heavy lift vehicle in more than 50 years—the NASA Space Launch System (SLS)—to the new commercial launch vehicles both small and large, flight opportunities for science missions are increasing.

A parallel renaissance is taking place in the field of planetary science. In just a few short years, we have expanded our knowledge from just our lone solar system, around an average star, to identifying literally thousands of planetary systems. We’ve suspected for millennia that our planet was not unique. We now know for a fact that our local neighborhood teems with planets large and small; warm and cold; some uninhabitable, but some, perhaps just a few, with conditions amenable to life as we know it.

Scientists can now envision the tool we will need to find the habitable planets around other stars. It is bold and ambitious: a space-based telescope with diameter perhaps twice that of the James Webb Space Telescope. We will need a big rocket like SLS, to lift this telescope; perhaps we might even need to build it in space . The largest rockets in our future fleet not only can change the perspective of humanity by landing us on the moon and Mars; they can loft the instruments we need to find new shores for exploring. Just as Darwin’s scientific research on the Beagle changed our world view, our modern explorations may reveal that evolution has occurred not just here at home but elsewhere in the universe.

SLS and its commercial kin will also be able to propel new robotic spacecraft through the intriguing water plumes that spew from subsurface oceans on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus . We suspect that oceans of water are also hiding beneath surfaces of Pluto and its fraternal twin Triton, a moon of Neptune that once roamed free before being captured by the eighth planet. The unprecedented lift and capacity of SLS will, once it’s been built and successfully tested, game-changing benefits for new spacecraft, including the ability to traverse the distances to the outer solar system in significantly reduced time.

Nineteenth-century Britain invested in its navy for economic and strategic security, yet the legacy of the HMS Beagle transcended those original purposes. In this century, the United States is investing in NASA for national strategic interests, but also to push once again on the boundaries of exploration, and to achieve a sustainable presence on the moon and beyond.

As we contemplate the fleet required for these next phases of NASA’s journey into space, let’s leave room for modern-day Darwins. Although he was given only one small cabin on the Beagle ’s second survey mission, today’s schoolchildren know about that voyage because of his feats of scientific exploration. It could be that history books published 200 years from now will teach children the story of how a powerful rocket, a 21st-century  Beagle, enabled scientific exploration of our solar system, and perhaps even lofted the telescope that finally found life elsewhere in the Milky Way.

The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle

An introduction by r. b. freeman.

Darwin contributed a geological introduction to Part 1, the Fossil Mammalia (pp. 3-12), and a geographical introduction to Part II, the Mammalia (pp. i-iv). He also contributed notices of habits and ranges throughout the text of Mammalia and Birds, and there are frequent notes, mostly from his labels, in the text of the Fish and the Reptiles. The authors of the parts were Richard Owen ( Fossil Mammalia ), George Robert Waterhouse ( Mammalia ), John Gould ( Birds ), Leonard Jenyns ( Fish ) and Thomas Bell ( Reptiles ). One issue only; it has not been translated, but there is a facsimile of Part V. reptiles. A three volume facsimile was published by Nova Pacifica in 1980, F1899, in The Works of Charles Darwin published by Pickering, 1986-1989 and a four volume edition by CIL Limited in 1994.

C. D. Sherborn ( Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. Vol. 20, p. 483, 1897) has listed the dates of issue of the numbers as given to him by the publishers, and these correspond to the dates printed on the numbers themselves. Unfortunately, he calls each number a part, whereas the set, as mentioned above, consists of nineteen numbers, which together make up the five parts. The full details of the issue in numbers are given in F8, and those for the parts issue and the same in volume form in F9. Inserted advertisements may vary from set to set, but there are usually four pages of publisher's general advertisements in Numbers III and IV; an advertisement for the forthcoming geological results, in a form in which these never appeared, in Number V; and a notice to subscribers to Sir Andrew Smith's Zoology of South Africa in Number XV. I have however seen the geological advertisement in Number VII.

The unbound parts cost £8. 15 s . and the publishers advertised the completed work as available 'in half russia or cloth binding, at small addition'. The English Catalogue gives a price of £9. 2 s. for the bound work. I have not identified the publisher's half russia, but the original cloth casing was in five volumes, one part in each. Copies also occur in publisher's cloth in three, Fossil Mammalia and Mammalia in the first, Birds in the second and Fish and Reptiles in the third. This form was, presumably, later than that in five, but no volume titles seem to have been issued for it.

Click here for a full bibliographical list.

Bound complete volumes:

Darwin, C. R. ed. 1840. Fossil Mammalia Part 1 of The zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle . by Richard Owen. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image PDF F9.1 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1839. Mammalia Part 2 of The zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle . by George R. Waterhouse. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image PDF F9.2 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1841. Birds Part 3 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. by John Gould. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image PDF F9.3 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1842. Fish Part 4 of The zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle . by Leonard Jenyns. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image PDF F9.4 Courtesy of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum (London). Darwin, C. R. ed. 1843. Reptiles Part 5 of The zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle . by Thomas Bell. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Image PDF F9.5 Courtesy of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum (London). Introduction by Daniel Pauly

Original issues in numbers:

Darwin, C. R. ed. 1838. Fossil Mammalia Part 1 No. 1 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Richard Owen. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Includes by Darwin: Preface pp. [i]-iv and Geological introduction (pp. 3-12). Text Image Text & image F8.1 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1838. Mammalia Part 2 No. 1 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By George R. Waterhouse. Includes by Darwin: Geographical introduction (pp. i-v) and A notice of their habits and ranges. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.2 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1838. Birds Part 3 No. 1 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. by John Gould. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.3 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1838. Mammalia Part 2 No. 2 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By George R. Waterhouse. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.4 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1838. Mammalia Part 2 No. 3 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By George R. Waterhouse. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.5 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1839. Birds Part 3 No. 2 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. by John Gould. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.6 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1839. Fossil Mammalia Part 1 No. 2 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, during the years 1832 to 1836. By Richard Owen. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.7 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1839. Fossil Mammalia Part 1 No. 3 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Richard Owen. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.8 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1839. Birds Part 3 No. 3 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. by John Gould. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.9 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1839. Mammalia Part 2 No. 4 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By George R. Waterhouse. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.10 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1839. Birds Part 3 No. 4 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. by John Gould. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.11 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1840. Fish Part 4 No. 1 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Leonard Jenyns. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London: Smith Elder and Co. Introduction Text Image Text & image F8.12 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1840. Fossil Mammalia Part 1 No. 4 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Richard Owen. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.13 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1840. Fish Part 4 No. 2 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Leonard Jenyns. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.14 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1841. Birds Part 3 No. 5 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. by John Gould. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.15 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1841. Fish Part 4 No. 3 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Leonard Jenyns. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.16 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1842. Fish Part 4 No. 4 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Leonard Jenyns. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.17 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1842. Reptiles Part 5 No. 1 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Thomas Bell. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.18 Darwin, C. R. ed. 1843. Reptiles Part 5 No. 2 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Thomas Bell. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin . London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.19

From: Freeman, R. B. 1977. The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist . 2d ed. Dawson: Folkstone.

NOTE: With thanks to The Charles Darwin Trust and Dr Mary Whitear for use of the Bibliographical Handlist . Copyright. All rights reserved. For private academic use only. Not for republication or reproduction in whole or in part without the prior written consent of The Charles Darwin Trust, 31 Baalbec Road, London N5 1QN.

Corrections and additions copyright John van Wyhe, The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online - National University of Singapore.

File last up 22 August, 2023 e -->e -->

The second Voyage of the HMS Beagle

HMS Beagle in the seaways of Tierra del Fuego, painting by Conrad Martens

The HM.S. Beagle

The Cherokee-class of 10-gun brig-sloops was designed by Sir Henry Peake in 1807, and eventually over 100 were constructed. The Beagle’s keel was laid in June 1818, and the ship was launched on 11 May 1820. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review on the River Thames, celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom.

The First Voyage to South America

Captain Pringle Stokes was appointed captain of HMS Beagle on 7 September 1825 and led its first voyage, accompanying the larger ship HMS Adventure on a hydrographic survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego , under the overall command of the Australian Captain Phillip Parker King , Commander and Surveyor. Unfortunately, Captain Stokes became severely depressed during the journey and shot himself. Captain Parker King then replaced Stokes with the First Lieutenant of the Beagle, Lieutenant W.G. Skyring as commander. In Montevideo , the ship was put under the command of Flag Lieutenant Robert Fitz Roy . During the journey, the only 23-year-old aristocrat FitzRoy proved an able commander and meticulous surveyor. During this survey, the Beagle Channel was identified and named after the ship.

Tha Famous Second Voyage of the Beagle

The second voyage of the Beagle took place from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836. Its main purpose was to conduct a hydrographic survey of the coasts of the southern part of South America as a continuation and correction of the work of previous surveys, to produce nautical charts showing navigational and sea depth information for the navy and for commerce. On 27 June 1831 FitzRoy was commissioned as commander of the voyage, and Lieutenants John Clements Wickham and Bartholomew James Sulivan were appointed. The ship was one of the first to test the lightning conductor invented by William Snow Harris. FitzRoy obtained five examples of the Sympiesometer , a kind of mercury-free barometer patented by Alexander Adie and favoured by FitzRoy as giving the accurate readings required by the Admiralty.

FitzRoy was fully aware of the stress he would probably face during the journey as this was the first time, he had no commanding officer or second captain to consult. He felt the need for a gentleman companion who shared his scientific interests and could dine with him as an equal. The first person who was suggested to FitzRoy was Reverend Leonard Jenyns, however, he declined in the last minute. Soon, the 22-year-old Charles Darwin who had just completed the ordinary Bachelor of Arts degree which was a prerequisite for his intended career as a parson, and was on a geology field trip with Adam Sedgwick was suggested. However, this time FitzRoy responded to be strongly against Darwin joining the expedition. Still, Darwin traveled to London and was able to persuade FitzRoy. The geologist Charles Lyell asked FitzRoy to record observations on geological features such as erratic boulders.[ 7 ] Before they left England, FitzRoy gave Darwin a copy of the first volume of Lyell’s Principles of Geology which explained features as the outcome of a gradual process taking place over extremely long periods of time.

From Plymouth Sound to South America

On the morning of 27 December, the Beagle left its anchorage in the Barn Pool, under Mount Edgecumbe on the west side of Plymouth Sound and set out on its surveying expedition. On 6 January the expedition reached Tenerife in the Canary Islands, but was quarantined there because of cholera in England and they were denied landing. Their first landing turned out to be at Porto Praya on the volcanic island of St. Jago in the Cape Verde Islands . There, Darwin’s description in his published Journal begins. Darwin had a special position as guest and social equal of the captain, so junior officers called him “sir” until the captain dubbed Darwin Philos for ship’s philosopher , and this became his suitably respectful nickname.

The Galapagos Islands, New Zealand and Australia

In South America, Beagle carried out its survey work going along the coasts to allow careful measurement and rechecking. Darwin made long journeys inland with travelling companions from the locality. He spent much of the time away from the ship, returning by prearrangement when the Beagle returned to ports where mail could be received and Darwin’s notes, journals, and collections sent back to England. The crew reached the Galápagos Islands on 15 September 1835. He was disappointed that he did not see active volcanoes or find strata showing uplift as he had hoped, though one of the officers found broken oyster-shells high above the sea on one of the islands. Darwin industriously collected all the animals, plants, insects and reptiles, and speculated about finding “ from future comparison to what district or ‘centre of creation’ the organized beings of this archipelago must be attached. “

1846 “General Chart of Australia”, showing coasts examined by Beagle during the third voyage in red, from John Lort Stokes’ Discoveries in Australia

The expedition sailed on, dining on Galapagos tortoises, and passed the atoll of Honden Island on 9 November. They passed through the Low Islands archipelago, with Darwin remarking that they had “a very uninteresting appearance; a long brilliantly white beach is capped by a low bright line of green vegetation.” At Tahiti , Darwin found interest in luxuriant vegetation and the pleasant intelligent natives who showed the benefits of Christianity, refuting allegations he had read about tyrannical missionaries overturning indigenous cultures. They reached New Zealand in December and Australia in January 1836. They made contact with a group of aborigines who looked “good-humoured & pleasant & they appeared far from such utterly degraded beings as usually represented”. They gave him a display of spear throwing for a shilling, and he reflected sadly on how their numbers were rapidly decreasing.

In 1837 HMS Beagle set off on a survey of Australia, and is shown here in an 1841 watercolour by Captain Owen Stanley of Beagle’s sister ship HMS Britomart.

From the Indian Ocean back to England

On April 1, the crew arrived at Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean, where Darwin found a coconut economy. At Mauritius , Darwin toured the island, examining its volcanic mountains and fringing coral reefs. Around 15 June Darwin and FitzRoy visited the noted astronomer Sir John Herschel . In his diary Darwin called this “ the most memorable event which, for a long period, I have had the good fortune to enjoy. ” On 23 July they set off again longing to reach home, but FitzRoy wanted to ensure the accuracy of his longitude measurements and so took the ship across the Atlantic back to Bahia in Brazil to take check readings. The Beagle departed for home on 17 August. After a stormy passage including a stop for supplies at the Azores, the Beagle finally reached Falmouth, Cornwall, England on 2 October 1836.

Darwin’s Diary

Back home, Darwin set to work reorganising and trimming his diary, and incorporating scientific material from his notes. He completed his Journal and Remarks (now commonly known as The Voyage of the Beagle ) in August 1837, but FitzRoy was slower and the three volumes were published in August 1839. Darwin had shown great ability as a collector and had done the best he could with the reference books he had on ship. It was now the province of recognised expert specialists to establish which specimens were unknown, and make their considered taxonomic decisions on defining and naming new species.

References and Further Reading:

  • [1]  The Second Voyage of the HMS Beagle – Voyage Overview
  • [2]  Charles Darwin’s diary of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle
  • [3]  The HMS Beagle Voyage at AboutDarwin.com
  • [4]  Robert FitzRoy – From Darwin’s famous voyage to Meteorology , SciHi Blog
  • [5]  Charles Darwin and the Natural Selection , SciHi Blog
  • [6]  Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ , SciHi Blog
  • [7]  Charles Lyell and the Principles of Geology , SciHi Blog
  • [8] HMS Beagle at Wikidata
  • [9]  Charles Darwin’s Beagle Diary, John van Wyhe , John van Wyhe @ youtube
  • [10]  Darwin, Charles (1839).   Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty’s Ships   Adventure   and   Beagle   between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the   Beagle ‘s   circumnavigation of the globe. Journal and remarks. 1832–1836 . Vol. III. London: Henry Colburn.
  • [11] FitzRoy, Robert  (1836).  “ Sketch of the Surveying Voyages of his Majesty’s Ships   Adventure   and   Beagle, 1825–1836. Commanded by Captains P. P. King, P. Stokes, and R. Fitz-Roy, Royal Navy. (Communicated by John Barrow)” .  Journal of the Geological Society of London .  6 : 311–343 .  
  • [12]  FitzRoy, Robert   (1839).   Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagle ‘s  circumnavigation of the globe. Proceedings of the second expedition, 1831–36, under the command of Captain Robert Fitz-Roy, R.N.   Vol. II. London: Henry Colburn.
  • [13] Marquardt, Karl ,  HMS Beagle: Survey Ship Extraordinary   Conway Maritime Press , 2010. 
  • [14] Timeline for the HMS Beagle, via Wikidata

Tabea Tietz

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  1. Beagle

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  2. Charles Darwin and the Beagle voyage

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  3. Charles Darwin

    purpose of the beagle voyage

  4. Beagle

    purpose of the beagle voyage

  5. Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the HMS Beagle

    purpose of the beagle voyage

  6. Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle ( Read )

    purpose of the beagle voyage

COMMENTS

  1. Charles Darwin

    Charles Darwin - Evolution, Natural Selection, Beagle Voyage: The circumnavigation of the globe would be the making of the 22-year-old Darwin. Five years of physical hardship and mental rigour, imprisoned within a ship's walls, offset by wide-open opportunities in the Brazilian jungles and the Andes Mountains, were to give Darwin a new seriousness.

  2. The Voyage of the Beagle

    The Voyage of the Beagle is the title most commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks, bringing him considerable fame and respect. This was the third volume of The Narrative of the Voyages of H.M. Ships Adventure and Beagle, the other volumes of which were written or edited by the ...

  3. HMS Beagle: Darwin's Trip around the World

    Join Charles Darwin on his voyage around the world from 1831 to 1836 as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle. Learn how his experiences and observations shaped his groundbreaking theory of evolution through natural selection. Explore the map and timeline of his journey, and discover the places and species that inspired him.

  4. Beagle

    Beagle, British naval vessel aboard which Charles Darwin served as naturalist on a voyage to South America and around the world (1831-36). The specimens and observations accumulated on this voyage gave Darwin the essential materials for his theory of evolution by natural selection.. HMS Beagle (the third of nine vessels to bear this name) was launched on May 11, 1820, at Woolwich, the site ...

  5. Charles Darwin's Beagle Voyage

    The Beagle voyage would provide Darwin with a lifetime of experiences to ponder—and the seeds of a theory he would work on for the rest of his life. Article A Stunning Invitation In August 1831, Darwin received a letter offering a chance of a lifetime—an invitation to go on a trip around the world as a naturalist.

  6. Charles Darwin and His Voyage Aboard H.M.S. Beagle

    Charles Darwin's five-year voyage in the early 1830s on H.M.S. Beagle has become legendary, as insights gained by the bright young scientist on his trip to exotic places greatly influenced his masterwork, the book " On the Origin of Species ." Darwin didn't actually formulate his theory of evolution while sailing around the world aboard the ...

  7. 5.13: Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle

    The Voyage of the Beagle. In 1831, when Darwin was just 22 years old, he set sail on a scientific expedition on a ship called the HMS Beagle.He was the naturalist on the voyage. As a naturalist, it was his job to observe and collect specimens of plants, animals, rocks, and fossils wherever the expedition went ashore. The route the ship took and the stops they made are shown in the Figure below.

  8. The Voyage of the HMS Beagle

    The Voyage of the HMS BeagleOverviewCharles Darwin (1809-1882) was among the most influential scientists who ever lived. He began his career as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle, on its five-year surveying mission around South America and across the Pacific. Darwin's work was to make the Beagle's journey one of the best documented surveys of its time.

  9. Darwin's voyage on the 'Beagle' started a scientific revolution

    Darwin's first—and only—trip around the world began a scientific revolution. The plants and animals encountered on the five-year voyage of the 'Beagle' provided the foundation for Charles ...

  10. A Five-Year Journey

    The captain and crew of the HMS Beagle originally planned to spend two years on their trip around the world. Instead, the voyage took nearly five years, from December 1831 to October 1836. The primary purpose of the trip, sponsored by the British government, was to survey the coastline and chart the harbors of South America, in order to make better maps and protect British interests in the ...

  11. READ: Gallery

    The Route of the HMS Beagle. The HMS Beagle, captained by Robert FitzRoy, set sail from Plymouth Sound in England on December 27, 1831. Initially planned as a two year survey expedition, the voyage lasted nearly five years and circumnavigated the world. Darwin recorded his observations in journals and later published them in 1839.

  12. ACTIVITY: The Voyage of the Beagle (article)

    Purpose. Charles Darwin's work was critical to the development of evolutionary thinking, and his claims about how species change over time were fueled by his experiences as a young man on a research ship called the HMS Beagle. In this activity, you'll learn how to interpret images and maps in order to extract information about Darwin's ...

  13. The Five Year Voyage

    The purpose of the Beagle's voyage was to survey the coast of South America. Charles Darwin was invited on board as the Captain's Companion and naturalist. In his time aboard the Beagle, Darwin would describe and collect many new types of animals and plants. Some would be used for research while others would sent to museums or acquired by ...

  14. Darwin's voyage: HMS Beagle 1831-1836

    That was the purpose of the voyage. In reality it must be this extraordinary collection of animals and plants but the other thing the expedition does is make sure that there is no chance of Darwin being anything other than a naturalist. There's no way he's becoming a vicar after this. ... Beagle's voyage takes a few weeks longer than ...

  15. The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin

    The Voyage of the Beagle: Book Overview. The Voyage of the Beagle is a nonfiction book by famed naturalist Charles Darwin. It was originally published in 1839 and it is an account of Darwin's ...

  16. 200 years of HMS Beagle

    Beagle was completed as a survey ship between September 1825 and March 1826 'to survey Magellan's Streights'.. Having left in May 1826 the commission did not end until October 1830, when Beagle returned home under the command of Commander Robert FitzRoy - his predecessor had died by suicide in 1828. Despite this devastating event during the voyage, the survey was deemed a success and a ...

  17. HMS Beagle

    Darwin was on board during this voyage, which became one of the most famous and important voyages of exploration ever made. Beagle's third and final voyage (1837-43) surveyed large parts of the Australian coast. How big was Beagle? The Beagle measured just 27 metres long and seven metres wide, and weighed 235 tons. She underwent a number of ...

  18. The Voyage of the Beagle and the Future of Space Science

    On its second voyage, the Beagle hosted the recently graduated naturalist Charles Darwin. ... (SLS), designed to send humans beyond Earth's orbit, can also serve another purpose: ...

  19. Second voyage of HMS Beagle

    The second voyage of HMS Beagle, from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, made under her newest commander, ... — It creates a feeling of wonder that so much beauty should be apparently created for such little purpose." Six days later, ...

  20. Charles Darwin

    Watch this video ad-free on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/extra-history-charles-darwin-the-voyage-of-the-beagle-extra-historyThe 1830s were an exciting ti...

  21. Darwin Online: The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle

    The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle An introduction by R. B. Freeman. Darwin edited this sumptuous work, which appeared in five parts, made up of nineteen numbers, between February 1838 and October 1843. Early in 1837, he was considering asking for government help to publish the zoological results of the voyage as a book. In May that ...

  22. The second Voyage of the HMS Beagle

    Tha Famous Second Voyage of the Beagle. The second voyage of the Beagle took place from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836. Its main purpose was to conduct a hydrographic survey of the coasts of the southern part of South America as a continuation and correction of the work of previous surveys, to produce nautical charts showing navigational ...

  23. chapter 5 HSP Flashcards

    chapter 5 HSP. The primary purpose of the beagle's voyage was to survey the Southern coast of South America expressione its port areas thus allowing the powerful British merchant fleet to retain its edge in the competition for trade with the delval apeing south American countries And is the place Darwin? Click the card to flip 👆. Spend 5 years.