What Ship Did Charles Darwin Sail On? HMS Beagle

Q: What ship did Charles Darwin sail on?

Charles Darwin sailed aboard HMS Beagle, a Royal Navy survey ship, on a voyage around the world from 1831 to 1836. Its observations, especially in the Galápagos Islands, helped inspire his theory of evolution by natural selection, published in On the Origin of Species in 1859.

Why the Beagle sailed

The Beagle’s main mission was to map coastlines, especially of South America, for the British Navy. Captain Robert FitzRoy wanted a gentleman naturalist on board as a companion, and Darwin, then a young graduate interested in geology and beetles, got the place.

The route

1831Leaves Plymouth, England
1832Brazil: Darwin explores tropical rainforest
1832–1835Years mapping the coasts of Argentina, Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and Chile; Darwin finds giant fossil mammals
1835The Galápagos Islands, then Tahiti and New Zealand
1836Australia, Mauritius, South Africa, and home to England

Darwin spent more time on land than at sea, and he was badly seasick for much of the voyage.

What Darwin noticed

Fossils of extinct giant animals that resembled living species
Earthquakes in Chile that raised the land, suggesting Earth changes slowly
In the Galápagos, mockingbirds and giant tortoises that differed from island to island

The famous finches became important later, when experts back in England showed they were separate species.

From voyage to theory

Darwin worked on his ideas for more than 20 years. He finally published On the Origin of Species in 1859, after naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace independently reached a similar idea.

What happened to the Beagle?

It made a third voyage to survey Australia, then became a coastguard ship. It was broken up around 1870, but researchers believe they’ve found its remains in an Essex marsh.

Darwin’s ideas explain why living things vary; see why jaguars have spots for evolution in action.