HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle was a British Royal Navy ship, made famous for the second voyage she made with Charles Darwin aboard.
On May 11, 1820, HMS Beagle was launched as a 90-foot, 10-gun brig from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames. There was no immediate need for Beagle so she was kept in reserve for five years.
First Voyage
On September 27, 1825, HMS Beagle docked at Woolwich for repairs and fitted out for her new duties. Her guns were reduced from ten cannons to six and her deck was raised by 18 inches, these alterations were done to increase the space below decks. A mizzenmast was added to improve her manoeuvrability thereby changing her from a brig to a barque.
On May 22, 1826, HMS Beagle set sail for her first voyage, a survey mission of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. She was under the command of Captain Pringle Stokes and also on board was Lieutenant Robert FitzRoy.
While surveying Tierra del Fuego, Captain Pringle Stokes shot himself and died 11 days later. Robert FitzRoy was put in temporary command of the Beagle.
The HMS Beagle ended her first voyage when she returned to Plymouth, England on October 14, 1830.
Second Voyage
It was originally intended that HMS Chanticleer would make the second South American Survey, but due to her poor condition HMS Beagle was substituted for the voyage. On June 25, 1831 Robert FitzRoy was re-appointed as commander of HMS Beagle.
HMS Beagle was originally scheduled to leave on October 24, 1831 but because of delays in her preparations the departure was delayed until December. Beagle attempted to depart on December 10 but ran into bad weather. Finally, on December 27 at 2:00 pm, Darwin and the Beagle left Plymouth harbour on what was to become a groundbreaking oceanographic expedition.
Third Voyage
The third voyage of HMS Beagle took place between 1837 and 1847 under the command of Commander John Wickham. During this voyage she made the first charts of large parts of the coast of Australia.
Final years
Towards the end of its working life, the Beagle was used by Customs and Excise as an anti-smuggling patrol vessel along the Essex coast - particularly along the marshes south of Burnham-on-Crouch. In 1870, it was sold to local scrap merchants, and - according to reports in the Observer newspaper (15 February 2004) - it may subsequently have been abandoned to sink into the mud on the north bank of the River Roach.
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Referenced By
1831 | 1831 in science | 1836 | 1836 in science | 24 August | 24th August | 27 December | 27th December | 2 October | 2nd October | Atoll | Atolls | August 24 | August 24th | Beagle (disambiguation) | Beagle 2 | British Navy | British Royal Navy | British naval supremacy | Chapter 1 - Variation Under Domestication | Chapter 2 - Variation Under Nature | Chapter 3 - Struggle for Existence | Charles Darwin | Charles Robert Darwin | Darwinian | December 27 | December 27th | Francis Beaufort | Governor FitzRoy | List of Royal Navy ship names | October 2 | October 2nd | On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection | Origin of Species | Pacific | Pacific Ocean | Preface of Origin | Robert FitzRoy | Royal Navy | Scurvy grass | T.H. Huxley | T. H. Huxley | The Origin of Species | The Origin of Species/Chapter 1 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 10 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 11 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 12 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 13 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 14 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 2 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 3 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 4 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 5 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 6 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 7 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 8 | The Origin of Species/Chapter 9 | The Origin of Species/Glossary | The Origin of Species/Introduction | The Origin of Species/Preface | The Pacific | The Voyage of the Beagle | Thomas Henry Huxley | Thomas Huxley | Timeline of ornithology
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