The journey on the Beagle ship is short. Charles Darwin's trip around the world

This was the second of eight HMS Beagle ships in the Royal Navy. The name was taken from a breed of hunting dog popular among the English nobility. The order for its construction was given in June 1818 at the Woolwich shipyard, but the ship was launched only in May 1820. The cost was 7803 British pounds sterling, which in today's exchange rate is equal to 600 thousand.

The ship was originally designed as a brig-sloop, but in 1825 it was converted into a barque for scientific research expeditions.

Travel route

On the morning of December 27, 1831, a crew of seventy-three people set off from Plymouth harbor on a voyage on the Beagle. Captain Robert Fitzroy noted in his notes that the ship left England fully equipped with everything necessary for the upcoming voyage. Everything he requested from the Admiralty was provided.

The destination chosen for the journey was a popular ship route in the 19th century. The Beagle headed south and on January 16, 1832 it reached the Cape Verde Islands. Sails to Cape Horn, moving along the coast of South America, then anchors off the island of Chiloe on November 21. The next point on the route is the Galapagos Archipelago, after which the ship crosses the Pacific Ocean, heading to Sydney (Australia).

The bark sails across the Indian Ocean and arrives in Mauritius on April 29, 1836. On his route were Cape Town (South Africa), the Saint Helena Islands and the Brazilian coast - the city of Bahia de los Santos. The journey is nearing completion, after the Azores the expedition heads back to England.

South America

Darwin conducted most of his research on the southern coast of the continent, where Argentina and Chile are today. It was in Latin America that the natural scientist made discoveries that influenced his subsequent work.

Many specimens of plants, insects and animals were collected near Rio de Janeiro. The scientist spent a couple of weeks in a small cottage located near Mount Corcovado. He was involved in packaging and preserving finds, and wrote notes and letters to England.

While studying Punta Alta, the scientist's prey was the fossil of an animal unknown to him. She was on a cliff, below a layer of sea shells. After this discovery, Darwin pondered the questions: “What is the reason for the absence of living animals of this kind in South America?” and “Does their environment influence their extinction?”

Galapagos archipelago

Scientists describe it as a unique, scientifically important and biologically outstanding object on Earth. Today the Turtle Islands are one of the most popular holiday destinations among tourists. It was here that Darwin saw firsthand the consequences of evolution in isolation. For example, from which part of the archipelago a turtle swam could be easily recognized by its shell.

The expedition visited only four islands, but the information collected was enough for the naturalist to find confirmation of his theory. He called the Galapagos “a small world in the middle of a big one.”

Arrival in England

On October 2, 1836, the ship completed a trip around the world, which lasted 4 years, 9 months and 5 days. They dropped anchor in the city of Falmouth (England), from where Darwin immediately set off for Shrewsbury. There he met his family and spent the next day sending letters to his friends.

The further fate of the Beagle

The ship participated in three more expeditions. In 1845 she was converted into a coastguard vessel to monitor the shipping lanes off the Essex coast. In 1870 it was sold to Messrs. Murray and Trainer for demolition.

In 2000, Robert Prescott, a professor at the Scottish University of St. Andrews, began searching for the Beagle. And he is absolutely sure that he has found it, because research into the possible location of the dock has been successful. Under the mud, in the Essex estuary, traces of wood and an antique anchor from 1841 were discovered. The GPR image shows a ship similar in size to the 27-meter brig.

In December 2011, it was announced that the first full-scale replica of the ship would be built at the Nao Victoria Museum. Nothofagus is used for construction.

Diaries and Notes of Charles Darwin

During his voyage on the Beagle, the naturalist filled out countless notebooks. They contain information and significant facts about the animal and plant world that he studied. More than 1,500 different species were transported to his home during the voyage.

Scientists note that the records are very detailed and contain many important details. Darwin kept a diary from the beginning of his voyage, and from the first pages the author’s interest in theoretical issues is noticeable. He re-read it often, after which he revised his theories, taking into account the new information received.

Charles Darwin. A TRIP AROUND THE WORLD ON THE BEAGLE

Diary of research on the natural history and geology of countries,

visited during Her Majesty's ship Beagle's circumnavigation of the world

under the command of Royal Navy Captain Fitzroy.

Charles Darwin MSc, Fellow of the Royal Society 1845

Charles Lyell, Esq., Fellow of the Royal Society,

This second edition is gratefully dedicated in recognition of

that the main scientific advantages, which, perhaps,

possess this “Diary” and other works of the author,

owe their origin to the study of all known,

amazing "Fundamentals of Geology"

Preface to the second edition

I I have already indicated in the preface to the first edition of this work and in the “Zoological Results of the Voyage on the Beagle” that in response to Captain Fitzroy’s expressed desire to have a scientific assistant on the ship, for which he was willing to partly sacrifice his personal comfort, I offered my services, to which, thanks to the courtesy of the hydrographer Captain Beaufort, consent was obtained from the Lords of the Admiralty. As I feel myself entirely indebted to Captain Fitzroy for the fortunate opportunity of studying the natural history of the various countries which we visited, I hope I may here once more express my gratitude to him, and add that during the five years we spent together, I met with the most cordial friendship and constant help from him.

I will always have a feeling of deep gratitude to Captain Fitzroy and to all the officers of the Beagle for the constant cordiality with which they treated me during our long voyage.

The present volume contains, in diary form, the history of our journey and a sketch of those observations in natural history and geology which, I believe, will be of some interest to a wide circle of readers. In this edition, I have significantly reduced and corrected some sections, and added something to others to make this book more accessible to a wider reader; but, I hope, naturalists will remember that for details they must turn to the more extensive works in which the scientific results of the expedition are set forth.

In his "Zoological Results of the Voyage of the Beagle," Professor Owen described fossil mammals, Mr. Waterhouse the modern mammals, Mr. Gould the birds, the Rev. L. Jenyns the fish, and Mr. Bell the reptiles. I have added notes to the description of each species about its lifestyle and area of ​​distribution. These works, the appearance of which I owe to the great talent and unselfish industry of the eminent scholars mentioned above, could not have been undertaken but for the generosity of the Lords of the Treasury, who, at the proposal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, kindly provided a thousand pounds sterling to defray part of the expenses of the publication.

For my part, I published separate volumes: “The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs,” “Volcanic Islands Visited During the Voyage of the Beagle,” and “Geology of South America.” The sixth volume of Geological Transactions contains two of my articles - on erratic boulders and on volcanic phenomena in South America. Messrs. Waterhouse, Walker, Newman and White have published several excellent articles on those insects which have been collected, and I hope many more will follow. The plants of the southern regions of America are described by Dr. J. Hooker in his great work on the botany of the Southern Hemisphere. The flora of the Galapagos Archipelago forms the subject of a special memoir published by him in Linnean Transactions. The Rev. Professor Henslow published a list of plants collected by me in the Keeling Islands, and the Rev. J.-M. Berkeley described my collection of secretagogue plants.

I shall be happy in due course to express my gratitude to certain naturalists for the great assistance they have given me during my work on this and other works; but here I must only take the liberty of declaring my most sincere gratitude to the Rev. Professor Henslow, who chiefly instilled in me, during my student years at Cambridge, a taste for natural history, and who, during my absence, took upon himself the care of the collections, sent by me to my homeland, and with his letters guided my endeavors and who - since my return - invariably provided me with all the help that the kindest friend could offer.

Down, Bromley, Kent, June, 1845

Chapter I. Santiago in the Cape Verde Archipelago (Bahia in Brazil)

Porto Praia Ribeira Grande. – Atmospheric dust with ciliates. – Habits of the sea snail and octopus. – The rocks of St. Paul are of non-volcanic origin. – Peculiar inlays. – Insects are the first settlers on the islands. - Fernando de Noronha. - Baya. – Polished rocks. – Habits of the fish Diodon. – Pelagic Confervae and ciliates. – Reasons for coloring the sea.

TO A ship of Her Majesty's Fleet, the ten-gun brig Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy of the Royal Navy, sailed from Devon Port on December 27, 1831, after being twice forced to return by strong south-westerly winds. The expedition aimed to complete the hydrographic survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, begun by Captain King's expedition in 1826–1830, to survey the coasts of Chile, Peru and some islands of the Pacific Ocean, and, finally, to carry out a series of chronometric measurements around the globe. On January 6 we reached Tenerife, but were not allowed to land for fear that we might contract cholera; the next morning we saw the sun, emerging from behind the quaint contours of the island of Gran Canaria, suddenly illuminate the peak of Tenerife, while the lower parts of the island were still hidden behind curly clouds. It was the first of many delightful days that I will never forget. On January 16, 1832, we anchored off Porto Praia on Santiago [Santiago], the main island of the Cape Verde archipelago.

From the sea, the surroundings of Porto Praia look lifeless. The volcanic fire of past centuries and the scorching heat of the tropical sun have made the soil in many places unsuitable for vegetation. The terrain gradually rises in flat ledges, on which conical hills with blunt peaks are scattered here and there, and on the horizon stretches an irregular chain of higher mountains. The picture that appears through the foggy air of this country is very curious; however, it is unlikely that a person who has just visited a grove of coconut palms, where he came straight from the sea, and, moreover, for the first time in his life, can judge anything - he is so full of the happiness he experiences.

This island is usually considered very uninteresting, but to a person accustomed to English landscapes alone, the new view of a completely barren country seems full of grandeur, which would be destroyed if there were more greenery. In the vast expanses of lava fields you can hardly find even a single green leaf, and yet herds of goats and even a few cows manage to maintain their existence there. It rains very rarely here, but there is one short period of time in the year during which there are heavy showers, and immediately after that faint greenery emerges from every crack. It soon dries up, and the animals feed on this natural hay. This time there was no rain all year.

At the time of the discovery of the island, there were many trees in the immediate vicinity of Porto Praia, but their reckless destruction has left this area, like St. Helena and some of the Canary Islands, almost completely barren. The wide and flat valleys, many of which serve as water courses for only a few days a year, are lined with thickets of leafless bushes. Few living creatures live in these valleys. The most common bird here is the kingfisher ( Dacelo lagoensis), which sits quietly on castor bean branches and from there quickly attacks grasshoppers and lizards. It is brightly colored, but not as beautiful as the European species, from which it also differs significantly in flight, lifestyle and habitat, usually preferring the driest valleys.

One day I went with two officers to Ribeira Grande [Ribeira Grande], a village lying a few miles east of Porto Praia. All the way to the valley of St. Martin, the area still had the same dull, gloomy appearance; here, however, thanks to a small stream, an oasis of luxurious vegetation has grown. Less than an hour had passed before we arrived in Ribeira Grande, where we were struck by the sight of the ruins of a large fortress and cathedral. This town, until its harbor was filled in, was the main city of the island; Now he looks rather sad, but still very picturesque. Having acquired a black priest as a guide, and a Spaniard who took part in the Iberian War of Independence as a translator, we visited a group of buildings, among which the main place was occupied by an ancient church. The governors and captain-generals of the archipelago are buried here.

On one cloudy December day in 1831, the ten-gun war brig Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitz Roy, left the shores of England. An expedition of the British Admiralty set off on the ship, which was supposed to draw up detailed sea maps and plot on them the outlines of the eastern and western coasts of South America. In addition to the crew and officers, the young scientist Charles Darwin, the future great naturalist, went on this long voyage around the world.

Darwin was born in 1809 in the small town of Shrewsbury, located in Middle England. Already in early childhood, the boy discovered a love for nature and a passionate desire to collect collections of plants, insects, minerals, etc. He read a lot and was especially fond of books on natural history and descriptions of travel. The book “Wonders of the World” made a great impression on him; she gave him a burning desire to travel.

Later, as a university student, Darwin studied botany, geology and zoology in depth. He learned to work independently not only with a book, but also to conduct observations in nature. After graduating from university, Darwin turned out to be the best candidate for the position of naturalist on the expedition around the world on the Beagle. Darwin's travel dreams were coming true.

The Beagle safely crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in Brazil at the end of February 1832. Here Darwin first saw a tropical forest. The young researcher wandered through the forests, surprised and delighted at the extraordinary richness of tropical vegetation, and observed unprecedented plants. The peace of the sultry, motionless forest air was disturbed only by lazily fluttering huge butterflies. One day in the forest, Darwin was unexpectedly overtaken by a tropical thunderstorm, which left an indelible impression on him.

While the Beagle officers were engaged in cartographic surveys of the coast of South America, Darwin became acquainted with the most interesting places in this part of the globe. He visited Uruguay, Chile and Argentina. The scientist got acquainted with the nature and fauna of the pampa. At the time Darwin traveled along the pampa, it was covered with thick green grass. In the pampa there were large herds of cows, horses and sheep. Here Darwin met the Gauchos - a peculiar South American people formed from the mixing of the Spaniards with the Indians. The appearance of the Gauchos attracted attention: they were stately and beautiful, wore bright clothes, knives in their belts, and huge spurs on their boots; Long curly hair fell onto the shoulders of the gauchos.

In the pampa, Darwin came across flocks of rhea ostriches, numbering 20-30 heads. The birds allowed the riders very close to them and only at the last moment spread their wings and quickly ran away. Gullible partridges, according to the scientist’s story, could simply be killed with blows of a stick.

Darwin collected a large collection of Pampa animals: several mammals, 80 different birds and many reptiles. Of the large animals, one species of deer with a disgusting smell is interesting. Darwin learned that in the pampa deer are only afraid of people riding a horse, but if you approach the herd by crawling, the deer, out of curiosity, will boldly approach the person and try to examine him. In South America, the scientist saw many rodents. Here he came across the world's largest rodent - a capybara - weighing about 40 kg. Capybaras live in small groups along the banks of lakes and rivers, feeding on aquatic plants.

For the first time in science, Darwin described another peculiar rodent - the tuco-tuco, which, like moles, leads an underground lifestyle.

To the south, in Patagonia, dry grassy steppes alternated with vast arid spaces covered with thorny bushes that were almost impenetrable to humans. In some places the surface of the plain was covered with a thick layer of gravel. The fauna here was poorer. Agouti was the most common species.

On the ocean coast, on vast mud flats, Darwin observed the life of seagulls, and on sandy mounds - vultures. The researcher was interested in armadillos. Some of them have the ability to burrow into the sand with amazing speed, others - to curl up into a ball with lightning speed when danger approaches.

On the low-lying cape of Punta Alta, jutting deep into the bay of Bahia Blanca, Darwin discovered the bones of ancient giant land animals. These bones were found here in such large numbers that the cape seemed like a crypt of extinct monsters. The scientist found the remains of nine large four-legged mammals. All of them belonged to herbivorous forms that lived in Tertiary or Quaternary times. Darwin noticed that the animal bones were similar to the bones of modern animals, but only much larger. Then the question arose in the mind of the scientist: why did all these giant llamas, sloths, and armadillos become extinct? Contemporary science did not give an answer to this question.

This remarkable discovery was of great importance for all of Darwin's subsequent scientific work. It gave rise to thoughts in the scientist’s mind that he later developed and formed the basis of his evolutionary teaching.

On the way to Buenos Aires we passed small towns surrounded by green gardens. Darwin examined with interest the slaughterhouses, which, according to him, were the main attraction of the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires.

On the way to Tierra del Fuego, the Beagle visited the Falkland Islands (Malvinas). The scientist's attention was attracted by penguins who deftly and quickly dived for fish. Darwin tried to push one of the penguins away from the sea, but met stubborn resistance from the bird, which was striving for water.

The sailors arrived in Tierra del Fuego in the summer. However, the daytime air temperature here rarely exceeded 7° and it rained or snowed almost every day. The beech forests covering the rounded cliffs proved impassable. The indigenous inhabitants of the island, despite the cold weather, were dressed only in guanaco skin cloaks, with the wool facing out.

The Beagle approached the famous Cape Horn. The weather was calm, rare for these places. The path to the Pacific Ocean lay through one of the channels of the Strait of Magellan. Skillfully maneuvering among countless stones, the Beagle entered the ocean and arrived in Valparaiso, the main seaport of Chile. Through the light blue haze of a sunny day, the majestic snowy peaks of the Andes were clearly visible here.

Darwin made several excursions to the Andes. On the way, I became acquainted with the difficult working conditions of miners in copper mines and gold mines. In Chile, the traveler was lucky enough to watch the eruption of the Osorno volcano, the bright red glow of which was reflected even in the waters of the ocean. And in the city of Valdivia, Darwin survived a strong earthquake. At the moment of the shock, he was resting, lying in the forest, near the seashore. The earthquake lasted two minutes. Darwin compared the sensation during the first shocks to the rocking of a ship on a slight side swell or to the sensations that a person experiences when sliding on thin ice that bends under his weight. A more terrible sight was observed by Captain Fitz-Roy, who was in the city during the earthquake.

Darwin moved along the coast of Chile until the path to the north was blocked by the arid Atacama Desert. Here he visited the famous development of Chilean saltpeter. The road to the mine went through the desert, covered with a thick crust of white table salt and gypsum, its appearance reminiscent of dirty melting snow. In places there were pale yellow lichens on the sand. Every now and then we came across bones and dried corpses of fallen animals.

Seams of sodium nitrate lay near the surface of the earth and were developed by open-pit mining.

Darwin aboard the Beagle

Having left the shores of South America, the Beagle headed to the Galapagos archipelago, located at the very equator, whose islands are covered with black basalt lava. Streams of steam rose from the craters of some volcanoes. Everything around bore traces of the recent eruption. Only stunted bushes and lonely acacias and cacti grew on the gloomy rocks. The islands were home to giant elephant tortoises weighing more than 150 kg. Darwin tested the strength of a turtle by standing on its back. The turtle freely picked him up and carried him away. There were many birds on these islands, among which even the birds of prey were very trusting.

After a long journey across the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean, the Beagle approached the island of Tahiti, and then to New Zealand, from where it went to Australia. Darwin traveled to the Blue Mountains. His path ran through eucalyptus forests, across a deserted, slightly undulating plain, covered with tufts of brown, coarse grass - excellent food for sheep.

From Australia, the Beagle headed to the shores of Europe. On the way, the ship stopped at small islands lost among the ocean expanses. Darwin established the volcanic origin of some of them. He explored coral islands and developed a theory of their origin and development. This theory is considered the most correct in our time.

The Beagle's circumnavigation of the world lasted five years. In the autumn of 1836, Darwin returned to England, where he lived almost without leaving for the rest of his life. The scientist presented the results of his observations in the wonderful book “A Naturalist’s Voyage Around the World on the Beagle.” In addition, he wrote many scientific works on zoology, botany, geology and other sciences, summarizing the materials of his observations during the expedition.

While sailing on the Beagle, Darwin developed new views on the history of the development of life on Earth. His scientific works revolutionized natural science and dealt a crushing blow to religious ideas about the creation of the world and the immutability of plant and animal species. Darwinism is the greatest achievement of mankind, marking the beginning of modern scientific biology.

Charles Darwin died in 1882. Until the last days of his life, he maintained his efficiency and amazing clarity of thinking.

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Charles Darwin. A TRIP AROUND THE WORLD ON THE BEAGLE

Diary of research on the natural history and geology of countries,

visited during Her Majesty's ship Beagle's circumnavigation of the world

under the command of Royal Navy Captain Fitzroy.

Charles Darwin MSc, Fellow of the Royal Society 1845

Charles Lyell, Esq., Fellow of the Royal Society,

This second edition is gratefully dedicated in recognition of

that the main scientific advantages, which, perhaps,

possess this “Diary” and other works of the author,

owe their origin to the study of all known,

amazing "Fundamentals of Geology"

Preface to the second edition

I I have already indicated in the preface to the first edition of this work and in the “Zoological Results of the Voyage on the Beagle” that in response to Captain Fitzroy’s expressed desire to have a scientific assistant on the ship, for which he was willing to partly sacrifice his personal comfort, I offered my services, to which, thanks to the courtesy of the hydrographer Captain Beaufort, consent was obtained from the Lords of the Admiralty. As I feel myself entirely indebted to Captain Fitzroy for the fortunate opportunity of studying the natural history of the various countries which we visited, I hope I may here once more express my gratitude to him, and add that during the five years we spent together, I met with the most cordial friendship and constant help from him.

I will always have a feeling of deep gratitude to Captain Fitzroy and to all the officers of the Beagle for the constant cordiality with which they treated me during our long voyage.

The present volume contains, in diary form, the history of our journey and a sketch of those observations in natural history and geology which, I believe, will be of some interest to a wide circle of readers. In this edition, I have significantly reduced and corrected some sections, and added something to others to make this book more accessible to a wider reader; but, I hope, naturalists will remember that for details they must turn to the more extensive works in which the scientific results of the expedition are set forth.

In his "Zoological Results of the Voyage of the Beagle," Professor Owen described fossil mammals, Mr. Waterhouse the modern mammals, Mr. Gould the birds, the Rev. L. Jenyns the fish, and Mr. Bell the reptiles. I have added notes to the description of each species about its lifestyle and area of ​​distribution. These works, the appearance of which I owe to the great talent and unselfish industry of the eminent scholars mentioned above, could not have been undertaken but for the generosity of the Lords of the Treasury, who, at the proposal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, kindly provided a thousand pounds sterling to defray part of the expenses of the publication.

For my part, I published separate volumes: “The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs,” “Volcanic Islands Visited During the Voyage of the Beagle,” and “Geology of South America.” The sixth volume of Geological Transactions contains two of my articles - on erratic boulders and on volcanic phenomena in South America. Messrs. Waterhouse, Walker, Newman and White have published several excellent articles on those insects which have been collected, and I hope many more will follow. The plants of the southern regions of America are described by Dr. J. Hooker in his great work on the botany of the Southern Hemisphere. The flora of the Galapagos Archipelago forms the subject of a special memoir published by him in Linnean Transactions. The Rev. Professor Henslow published a list of plants collected by me in the Keeling Islands, and the Rev. J.-M. Berkeley described my collection of secretagogue plants.

I shall be happy in due course to express my gratitude to certain naturalists for the great assistance they have given me during my work on this and other works; but here I must only take the liberty of declaring my most sincere gratitude to the Rev. Professor Henslow, who chiefly instilled in me, during my student years at Cambridge, a taste for natural history, and who, during my absence, took upon himself the care of the collections, sent by me to my homeland, and with his letters guided my endeavors and who - since my return - invariably provided me with all the help that the kindest friend could offer.

Down, Bromley, Kent, June, 1845

Chapter I. Santiago in the Cape Verde Archipelago (Bahia in Brazil)

Porto Praia Ribeira Grande. – Atmospheric dust with ciliates. – Habits of the sea snail and octopus. – The rocks of St. Paul are of non-volcanic origin. – Peculiar inlays. – Insects are the first settlers on the islands. - Fernando de Noronha. - Baya. – Polished rocks. – Habits of the fish Diodon. – Pelagic Confervae and ciliates. – Reasons for coloring the sea.

TO A ship of Her Majesty's Fleet, the ten-gun brig Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy of the Royal Navy, sailed from Devon Port on December 27, 1831, after being twice forced to return by strong south-westerly winds. The expedition aimed to complete the hydrographic survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, begun by Captain King's expedition in 1826–1830, to survey the coasts of Chile, Peru and some Pacific islands, and, finally, to carry out a series of chronometric measurements around the globe. On January 6 we reached Tenerife, but were not allowed to land for fear that we might contract cholera; the next morning we saw the sun, emerging from behind the quaint contours of the island of Gran Canaria, suddenly illuminate the peak of Tenerife, while the lower parts of the island were still hidden behind curly clouds. It was the first of many delightful days that I will never forget. On January 16, 1832, we anchored off Porto Praia on Santiago [Santiago], the main island of the Cape Verde archipelago.

From the sea, the surroundings of Porto Praia look lifeless. The volcanic fire of past centuries and the scorching heat of the tropical sun have made the soil in many places unsuitable for vegetation. The terrain gradually rises in flat ledges, on which conical hills with blunt peaks are scattered here and there, and on the horizon stretches an irregular chain of higher mountains. The picture that appears through the foggy air of this country is very curious; however, it is unlikely that a person who has just visited a grove of coconut palms, where he came straight from the sea, and, moreover, for the first time in his life, can judge anything - he is so full of the happiness he experiences.

This island is usually considered very uninteresting, but to a person accustomed to English landscapes alone, the new view of a completely barren country seems full of grandeur, which would be destroyed if there were more greenery. In the vast expanses of lava fields you can hardly find even a single green leaf, and yet herds of goats and even a few cows manage to maintain their existence there. It rains very rarely here, but there is one short period of time in the year during which there are heavy showers, and immediately after that faint greenery emerges from every crack. It soon dries up, and the animals feed on this natural hay. This time there was no rain all year.

“While traveling on Her Majesty's ship Beagle as a naturalist, I was struck by certain facts concerning the distribution of organic beings in South America and the geological relations between the former and modern inhabitants of that continent. These facts... illuminate to some extent the origin of species - this mystery of secrets, in the words of one of our greatest philosophers" (C. Darwin. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life).

At the end of December 1831, from Devonport, near Plymouth, a barque of the British Royal Navy with the canine name “Beagle” (a small, graceful hound) set sail. Already on January 6, 1832, the little Beagle reached Tenerife, on the 16th it reached the Cape Verde Islands, where it caught its breath, looked at the island of Fernando de Noronha, located opposite the eastern protrusion of the South American continent, and from there it headed to Brazilian Bahia (now San Salvador). And then for more than two years, from February 1832 to June 1834, the Beagle did not move away from the eastern shores of South America. Who was he chasing there?

The main task of the expedition was a detailed survey of the coast of South America (from Cape Horn almost to the equator) to compile accurate nautical maps necessary for both the merchant and navy of the British. The need for maps was caused by the fact that Britain, having suffered territorial losses in North America, seriously set its sights on South America and was going to take advantage of the weakness of the young republics, which had just freed themselves from the rule of Spain. Over the two years of operation, the Beagle filmed in the Bahia Blanca Bay area, visited Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands twice each, and ascended the Santa Cruz River. In June 1834, the British passed through the Strait of Magellan and began work on surveying the western coast. In just over a year, they captured the coastline from the Taytao Peninsula in the south (47° S) to Callao in the north, as well as many islands off the coast of Chile. In total, they compiled more than 80 maps of various parts of the coast and islands, several dozen plans of bays and harbors indicating all anchorages.

The commander of the Beagle, Robert Fitzroy, a famous meteorologist and hydrographer, invested a lot of his own money in organizing the expedition. To speed up the work, Fitzroy several times, without the approval of the Admiralty, hired schooners, which, in parallel with the Beagle, carried out surveys off the coast of South America. By the way, the Admiralty refused to reimburse him for the funds spent on this. In September 1835, the Beagle finally left South America. The expedition faced another task: to make longitudinal chronometric measurements necessary for drawing up nautical maps. To achieve maximum accuracy, the local time at the moment the sun passed through the meridian of each point (noon) was determined simultaneously by 24 calibrated chronometers. To ensure the correctness of the measurements, it was necessary to determine the longitude of a certain starting point using a chronometer, then walk around the globe and measure at the same point again: both values ​​​​had to coincide (360 ° longitude gives a difference in local time of 24 hours). The starting point was Bahia.

Leaving Callao, the Beagle headed for the Galapagos Islands. After spending more than a month there, at the end of October he set course for the Society Islands and stopped for several days in Tahiti. Then the transition took place to New Zealand, which the Beagle reached on December 20, and to Australia. At the end of January 1836, the British arrived in Tasmania, after which they headed to the Indian Ocean. In the first half of April, the Killing Islands were examined, and at the end of the month the Beagle was already off the island of Mauritius. Leaving it and passing Madagascar, at the end of May the Beagle reached Simon's Town Bay near Kapstadt (now Cape Town).

Having visited the island of St. Helena, and then to Ascension Island, on August 1, the Beagle dropped anchor for the second time in Bahia, thus completing its circumnavigation. From here he headed northeast, towards the British shores, and on October 2 finally dropped anchor in Falmouth Bay.

Despite the success of the expedition and serious practical results, the Beagle's circumnavigation of the world would have remained one of many voyages of the 19th century, not very remarkable and even mediocre, if not for one circumstance. In mid-1831, Fitzroy turned to the Cambridge mineralogist and botanist John Henslow with a request to find a naturalist for the Beagle expedition. The professor recommended to him the young bachelor Charles Darwin, who had extensive knowledge of geology, biology and other areas of natural science. Darwin, who had recently read Alexander Humboldt's book about a trip to South America and was inspired by the idea of ​​participating in a great voyage, went to negotiate with Fitzroy.

The captain delayed answering for some time. Later, Darwin learned that Fitzroy, a follower of Lavater and a convinced physiognomist, doubted the abilities of the young scientist after seeing the shape of his nose. So Darwin almost ended up with his nose, that is, at home.

And yet he was included in the expedition. True, at the same time, unlike the ship’s officers, he did not receive any salary. Moreover, he had to purchase scientific equipment, equipment, and hunting weapons at his own expense. The Admiralty did not consider the participation of a naturalist in the expedition obligatory and did not intend to support him. If we remember what the true goals of the campaign were, this is not surprising. Fitzroy personally invited the naturalist, and the maritime department simply did not object.

During the voyage, the crew went about their business, and Darwin did his. While the Beagle was filming off the coast of Brazil, Charles was exploring the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. While the ship was surveying the coast of Patagonia, Darwin made several large overland excursions to Argentina and Uruguay. When the expedition worked off the western coast of the continent, the scientist traveled along the coast of Central and Northern Chile, the Peruvian coast, and climbed the slopes of the Andes. While traveling around Chile, he witnessed a devastating earthquake and tsunami caused by a powerful earthquake.

Darwin's excursions were not educational and contemplative: he worked hard, studying geological sections, collecting rock samples, paleontological and botanical collections. He did all this extremely methodically, and kept notes on all observations carefully and in great detail. Darwin adhered to the principle of not trusting his memory: if vivid impressions are replaced quickly, there is little hope for it. He knew very well that hasty, unsystematic sketches lead to a very seductive, but destructive for a scientist, desire to fill gaps in knowledge with superficial hypotheses.

Darwin continued his research in the Galapagos Islands, Australia, and South Africa - wherever the Beagle visited on its long voyage. He collected valuable materials on the geology of the South American coast, the Andes mountain system and oceanic islands, and left unique descriptions of the earthquake and tsunami in Chile and other natural phenomena. But most importantly, Darwin knew how not only to analyze, but also to generalize. Based on his own geological research, he came to several important conclusions: the conclusion about the repeated slow rise and fall of the South American continent, the idea of ​​a connection between volcanism and tectonic faults, and, finally, the theory of the origin of coral reefs.

After him, many people proposed their own versions of the development of coral islands, but Darwin’s theory has still not lost its relevance; Moreover, it is precisely this that is today recognized by the majority of scientists. The secret of the theory's vitality is its synthetic nature. Darwin studied coral structures not as a narrow specialist, but comprehensively - as a zoologist, paleontologist, geologist, geomorphologist, and oceanologist. It is significant that the geotectonic concepts of the first half of the 19th century. were, to put it mildly, naive compared to modern ones, and this can be said about almost all sciences. But highly specialized hypotheses for the formation of coral structures were unable to compete with Darwin’s old theory, since it is distinguished by its approach to a natural phenomenon as a whole, in its unity and diversity.

Charles Darwin went down in history primarily as the creator of the theory of evolution of the organic world. And although Darwin’s book “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Breeds in the Struggle for Life” appeared only in 1859, it is no secret that the evolutionary idea itself was born during the voyage of the Beagle. Darwin himself wrote about this - both in his autobiography and in the introduction to The Origin of Species. It is curious that, when setting off on his journey, Darwin did not doubt the inviolability of the biblical teaching about the creation of all living things by God and the immutability of species. But his research gradually led him to the opposite conclusion. In September 1832, when he found the bones of extinct giant edentates near Bahia, Darwin first thought about “this mystery of mysteries - the first appearance on Earth of new living creatures.” Further research increasingly contributed to changing his views on the appearance of animal and plant species. Three years later, on the Galapagos Islands, with their unique community of living organisms, Darwin's new, revolutionary views received decisive confirmation.

Almost simultaneously with Darwin and independently of him, another Englishman, Alfred Wallace, developed and was about to publish the evolutionary theory. In 1858, he sent Darwin an article in which he outlined ideas that coincided with Darwin's theory of natural selection. One can imagine how the latter, who had been working on the theory for more than 20 years, felt when he received this manuscript. Nevertheless, Darwin submitted Wallace's paper to the Linnean Society of London, along with a summary of his theory. In July 1859 they were published together. It is necessary to pay tribute to Wallace, who without hesitation recognized Darwin's priority in creating the theory.

FIGURES AND FACTS

Main character

Charles Robert Darwin, English biologist and geologist

Other characters

Robert FitzRoy, commander of the Beagle; John Henslowe, mineralogist and botanist; Alfred Russell Wallace, naturalist

Time of action

Route

From England to South America, to the Pacific, to Australia, across the Indian Ocean and Atlantic to South America, then to England