On this day in 1831 Charles Darwin set sail from Plymouth Sound (England) on the newly refitted brig HMS Beagle. Its mission was to explore South America and survey its coast. The ship returned to England on October 2, 1836 after circumnavigating the globe.
When the ship left England, Darwin was officially the companion of the captain, Robert FitzRoy, but by the time it returned Darwin was the official naturalist.
[Image Credit: The HMS Beagle Project]
Wow, 105 years. That was a long voyage.
ReplyDeleteGood spot Jeffrey. A career in mathematics beckons!
ReplyDeleteHMS Beagle was built in 1819/20 and launched on my birthday, 11 May 1820.
ReplyDeleteAlan Moorehead's "Darwin and the Beagle" is a great book with some excellent original illustrations by Darwin.
ReplyDeleteImagine living and working for 5 years in a space the size of a fairly modest closet. Then imagine doing this while being violently seasick much of the time. And yet accomplishing the vast amount of observing, collecting and thinking that Darwin did during that voyage. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteSounds much like my office!
ReplyDeleteYou get seasick in your office? ;)
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