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Beginning Of The Voyage
On the morning of 27 December 1831, H.M.S. Beagle, with a crew of seventy-three men, sailed out of Plymouth harbor under a calm easterly wind and drizzly rain. -
Arriving in Tenerife Island
Tenerife Island was Darwin's favorite island but due to and outbreak of cholera, they had to turn around. -
First Discovery
The Beagle arrived at Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands, and anchored at Porto Praya. Darwin went ashore and explored for a few days. Here he made his first discovery, a horizontal white band of shells within a cliff face along the shoreline about 45 ft above sea level. The cliff face was at one time under water. Darwin wondered how it ended up 45 feet above the sea. He noted that the line was not even horizontal but varied in height. -
Darwin at Maldonado
Darwin was dropped off at Maldonado while the Beagle returned to Montevideo. He went on a twelve day interior expedition with two hired gauchos and a team of horses. -
Andes Expedition
Darwin worked out another Andes expedition while in the town of Santiago -
Andes expedition
At 4:00 AM Darwin started out on his Andes expedition with a Spanish speaking guide and many mules to carry provisions. He had doubts about making it to the top of the Andes due to snow blocking the mountain passes. -
Galapagos Archipelago
In the afternoon a tiny point of land was seen on the horizon. This was the first sighting of the Galapagos Archipelago, and it turned out to be Mount Pitt, a large hill on the north-east end of Chatham Island. -
Inland Excursion
Darwin examined the huge tortoises here, but collected just ten plants, most of which he thought were unimpressive little things. Eighteen tortoises were brought on board as food. -
Cocos Islands
H.M.S Beagle dropped anchor at the Cocos Islands. Darwin explored some of the islands and was impressed with the myriad of coconut trees, although hardly anything else existed on these islands. The islands were composed entirely of coral and Darwin surmised that they were once part of a large submerged coral reef. Despite the relative desolate state of the islands he did manage to collect several plants, a few small birds, one species of lizard, several species of insects. -
End of Trip
H.M.S. Beagle finally arrived home after a voyage of four years, nine months, five days.Docked at Falmouth, England, at night during a storm. Darwin set off immediately for home.
