THE FATE OF THE BEAGLE.
By the Rev. V. MARSHALL LAW.
On the 27th of December, 1831, his Majesty’s ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the command of Captain Fitz Roy, R. N., sailed from Devonport, England, on an expedition the purpose of which was to complete a survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego that had been begun under Captain King (1826–’30); to survey the shores of Chile and Peru, and of some islands in the Pacific; and to carry a chain of chronometrical measurements round the world. The voyage was one of the most memorable ones in the annals of scientific exploration, for, besides the direct results, which, in the condition of geography and natural history at the time, constituted very important additions to knowledge, it carried Charles Darwin, then young and full of the enthusiasm for study that never left him. Mr. Darwin accompanied the expedition on the invitation of its commander, Captain Fitz Roy, and with the special sanction of the Lords of the Admiralty, and, as it turned out, next to the captain of the vessel was perhaps the most important member of it. He made it his special business to inquire into the character and method and the reason of all the natural objects and phenomena he saw, examining what was in the sea while they were upon it, and, when they landed, going ashore and studying the geography and geology and life of the region as thoroughly as the time of stay would permit, and collecting no end of notes and specimens as material for future study.
H. M. S. Beagle in the Straits of Magellan. Mount Sarmiento in the Distance.
Besides his elaborate work giving the full story of the expedition and the details of its scientific results—a book which has ever since been a standard authority, and still keeps students in active discussion and investigation—the voyage of the Beagle has to be credited with having supplied the occasion for the composition of the briefer and more popular account which has become one of the classics of English literature.
More than this, and vastly transcending it in the importance of its bearing on the future of science, it was while going round the world and observing on the Beagle that those fundamental facts were gathered and stored in Mr. Darwin’s mind which, worked over and developed in after years and compared and combined with subsequently accumulated facts, bore fruit in the Origin of Species and the transformation of science that resulted upon the enunciation of Mr. Darwin’s theory of descent.
We all regard the association of any object with great events or with those in which we have great interest as making it precious. We endow ships with a kind of personality, regard them affectionately, and often speak of them fondly, as if they were real living beings in whom we had an interest. Such feelings we might legitimately entertain with regard to the Beagle, so closely associated with the history we have referred to. Few associations deserve, in fact, to be more highly valued than that of this brig, the Beagle, with Mr. Darwin’s books and his theory. It is therefore a matter of legitimate concern to inquire into what was the fate of the famous vessel.
The inquiry has been made, and is answered by the Rev. V. Marshall Law, of Oakland, Cal., whose account follows: