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Monday night
Upon returning from North Wales Darwin found letters waiting for him from Revd. John Henslow and George Peacock. Darwin had been invited to be a naturalist aboard H.M.S. Beagle on its two year survey of South America. -
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The Voyage
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Voyage Sets Sail!
After a few delays, the H.M.S. Beagle headed out from Plymouth with a crew of 73 under clear skies and a good wind. Darwin became sea-sick almost immediately. -
Cholera ruins Darwin's dreams
Beagle arrives at the port of Santa Cruz, but there is a Cholera outbreak so they are forced to move on and Darwin misses the chance to visit the island of his dreams. -
Darwin records first Discovery!
H.M.S. Beagle arrived at the Cape Verde Islands on 16 January and anchored at Porto Praya, on the island of Santiago (spelled St. Jago, in Darwin's narrative). It was on Santiago that Darwin made his first curious discovery. He found a horizontal white band of shells within a cliff face along the shoreline of Porto Praya. The fact that this layer was forty-five feet above sea level raised some interesting questions for Darwin. -
Slavery, what an adbomination!
On 28 February the Beagle arrived at Salvador (Bahia), Brazil, and anchored in All Saints Bay. While strolling about the town Darwin was disgusted at the sight of black slaves, and upon returning to the Beagle he got into a big quarrel with Capt. FitzRoy about the ethics of treating humans as property. FitzRoy flew into a temper and forbid Darwin to share his dinner table with him ever again. After a short cooling off period Capt. FitzRoy apologized to Darwin and his privilege to dine with him -
Galapagos!
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 mockingbird -
Darwin Circumnavigated the Globe
H.M.S. Beagle arrived at Tahiti, approximately 3,200 miles from South America. They remained at Tahiti for ten days and during this time Darwin went on a two day inland expedition an was awed by the glorious tropical vegetation. He was also impressed with the good work the missionaries had done with the Tahitians, who Darwin had a very high regard for. -
Australia
The Beagle arrived in Australia, where Darwin was favorably impressed by the young city of Sydney.Darwin started on a 130 mile inland trip to Bathurst, New South Wales. Along the way he made observations of the wildlife and was so astonished by the creatures he saw (namely, the odd-looking platypus) that he surmised there must have been a separate creation just for these odd creatures. -
Cape Town!
A packet ship arrived with mail for H.M.S. Beagle. Darwin went onshore to pay a visit to Sir John Herschel who had been living there since 1833. He was in charge of the new Royal Observatory built at Cape Town. Darwin was pleased to discover that Herschel had a keen interest in natural history. They had many conversations about volcanoes, earthquakes, the movement of continents, the origin of mankind, and how new species come into being. -
St. Helena
H.M.S. Beagle arrived at St. Helena Island where they remained for five days. Darwin found the island to be a desolate place, essentially a giant mountain of rocky lava rock, except inland where the scenery was more akin to the landscape of Wales. He spent most of his time here exploring the geology of the island -
Land ho!
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. -
Now an Author~
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.
