Darwin, Charles (1809–1882)

The Voyage of the Beagle

At 22 years old, Darwin was a young university graduate, planning a career as a clergyman. A 26-year-old naval officer, Robert FitzRoy, had been given command of HMS Beagle for a second surveying voyage to South American waters. He was determined to take along a naturalist capable of studying the little-known areas that the ship would visit. Darwin was recommended by John Stevens Henslow, his professor of botany, from whom he had learned a great deal about scientific method. So, in 1831, Darwin received an astounding invitation: to join the HMS Beagle as a naturalist for a trip around the world. The Beagle voyage would provide Darwin with a lifetime of experience to ponder and with the seeds of the theory he would work on for the rest of his life.

From Plymouth, England, the Beagle's first stop was the Cape Verde Islands. Then the ship proceeded to Brazil, where she was stationed at Bahia. Over the next 2 years, the Beagle went to Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Bahia Blanca, Patagonia, and the Falkland Islands. Then, via Valparaiso and Lima, the Beagle arrived at the Galapagos Islands. Crossing the Pacific and coming back through Asia, visiting Australia, the island of Mauritius, Cape Town, and then Brazil again, the Beagle finally arrived home. After a 5-year journey (December 1831-October 1836), Darwin, in his later Autobiography, called this trip the most important event of his life.

At the end of the travel, in May 1838, FitzRoy edited the Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle as the official narrative of the first and second voyages in four volumes. Darwin's Journal and Remarks, 1832–1835, forms the third volume, which adapted his shipboard diary into a book. This volume contains, in the form of a journal, a history of the voyage and a sketch of observations in natural history and geology. In its preface, Darwin demonstrates [Page 202]his special interest in general readers, noting that he has condensed some parts and expanded others to better adapt the book to general readers. Darwin's interest in science became a lifelong devotion. He avidly read the scientific travel accounts of Alexander von Humboldt and also read his works related to the Canary Islands. Another influence on Darwin was the work of the astronomer John Herschel. His Preliminary Discourse (1831) became the authority on correct methods of scientific investigation. Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell (1830) opened Darwin's eyes to a view of Earth as characterized by a long history of gradual change.

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