HMS Beagle is one of the most famous ships in history due to her association with the British naturalist Charles Darwin. The publication of Darwin’s 1839 journal and field notes, popularly known as ‘The Voyage of the Beagle’, propelled the ship to a lasting fame, which became assured with the later publication of the groundbreaking ‘On The Origin of Species’.
Darwin’s voyage
On 27th December, 1831, HMS Beagle set sail on a survey voyage carrying a twenty-year-old Charles Darwin. Darwin’s participation in the five year voyage could almost be considered accidental: several candidates declined the opportunity before he was asked to join the HMS Beagle, both as naturalist and as gentleman companion to Captain FitzRoy. When the invitation finally came, Darwin’s father refused to let him go. However, Darwin’s uncle was in favor of the voyage and convinced Darwin’s father to let him sail.
Having been delayed for some months by repairs and poor weather, HMS Beagle finally set out for South America. The voyage’s intended duration was two years but actually lasted five. The Beagle’s route circumnavigated the globe, beginning at Plymouth, England and encompassing twenty countries and island archipelagos before finally completing her voyage in 1836.
Thankfully for Darwin, who suffered from sea-sickness, three years were spent charting the coast of South America, and he spent much time on land exploring, note-making and collecting specimens. He returned to HMS Beagle at prearranged times and locations, and at these ports, mail ships were sought out. Letters, notes, journals, geological samples and other collections were frequently sent back to England to the care of John Stevens Henslow, his friend and mentor in Cambridge who had recommended him for the voyage.
After completing the survey of South America, HMS Beagle began the return journey to England via the Galapagos Islands, which are perhaps the most iconic site of Darwin’s explorations despite the fact that he stayed only five weeks there. On neighbouring islands, he discovered populations of birds, plants, and reptiles that were distinct from those on the continent and from each other. A story is often told that Darwin experienced a sudden insight into evolution by natural selection while in the Galapagos, in particular due to the various finches he found. Actually, it was not until nine months after he left the islands that the beginnings of such ideas appear in Darwin’s notebooks, and these comments were made with regards to the mockingbirds, not finches, that he had collected.
The HMS Beagle continued her homeward journey, stopping eventually in South Africa. At port there, Darwin received a letter from his sister informing him that Henslow had published ten of his letters for private distribution. This publication established Darwin’s initial reputation as a respected naturalist before his return to England. Later, in his autobiography, Darwin himself wrote: 'The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life and has determined my whole career'.
Darwin’s Ship
The ship Darwin sailed on was commissioned in 1820 for the Royal Navy. HMS Beagle was not immediately required for used by the Royal Navy, however, and spent five years held in reserve – moored afloat without crew, masts or rigging. The decision was made in 1825 to put HMS Beagle to use as a survey barque, which saw her set sail for the Americas in 1826. By the time Charles Darwin sailed on her, HMS Beagle had been extensively repaired and altered. For her now-famous voyage, ship’s captain Robert FitzRoy requested a raised deck to give better handling and expensive instruments, including 22 chronometers and five Sympiesometers (a type of mercury-free barometer), for accurate readings.
After Darwin
After completing her third voyage as a survey ship, HMS Beagle was refitted in 1845 as a coastguard watch vessel to combat smuggling on the Thames Estuary for Customs and Excise; she ended her days moored in location and was finally sold in 1870 to local scrap merchants for breaking up. In recent years research has shown that timbers used in local buildings, constructed around 1870, appear to match both wood and shape of HMS Beagle sections. In 2004 Dr Robert Prescott of Edinburgh University discovered the remains of the hull, which had been left by the scrap merchants beneath the waterline. It was later recovered.
Darwin’s HMS Beagle is third in a line of nine known Royal Navy ships to bear that name. The name ‘Beagle’ refers to a popular English hunting dog. Today the Royal Navy continues its historic practices of adopting animal names – real or mythical - for ships, and recycling names when a ship is taken out of commission.
Beagle Projects
In 2003, The Beagle 2 Project was launched as part of the European Space Agency’s Mars Express Mission. The machine at the heart of the British-led exploration of Mars is a lander dedicated to looking for signs of life on Mars. It is named Beagle 2 in honor of Darwin’s ship.
As part of the bicentenary celebrations of Darwin’s birth, The Beagle Project seeks to rebuild Darwin’s HMS Beagle and circle the world in his wake, making similar landfalls and undertaking shore expeditions. The new Beagle, in conjunction with NASA, will host original research projects to explore both macroscopic and microscopic biodiversity at sea and ashore and will link these to education and outreach.
