The Beagle & Journey
The Beagle was a Royal Navy brig just 90 feet (27 meters) long, yet it circumnavigated the world in just less than five years. On board were 74 people, countless provisions, supplies and 22 clocks, all stored in very small quarters.
The passage the Beagle took on leaving England was a popular route taken by ships in the nineteenth century. From England, the Beagle sailed south towards the Cape Verde Islands off Africa’s western coast, before heading West across the Atlantic to what is now Brazil. Moving down the coast the Beagle then surveyed the coast of modern day Argentina and the Falkland Islands before rounding Cape Horn – the southern tip of Latin America – and following the Pacific coast of Latin America north before reaching the Galápagos Islands. From the Galápagos, Darwin’s journey then took him right across the Pacific Ocean to Sydney, Australia, before moving onwards, once again, to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and then Cape Town, South Africa. From Cape Town the Beagle then crossed the Atlantic once again, touching the Brazilian coast, before finally, after nearly five years at sea, making its way back to Britain. Although Darwin never stopped there – the place did not exist at the time of his journey - Darwin in north Australia was named after Charles Darwin by his former shipmate John Lort Stokes, who was on the Beagle’s next voyage.
Even today, a sea voyage of this length and distance would not be without risks, but it is worth remembering that Australia and much of the Pacific Islands, as well as New Zealand, were only discovered and accurately mapped by Captain Cook just over sixty years before Darwin undertook his journey. Sixty years on, there were still plenty of wild and unknown places for an enquiring naturalist to explore in the world.
