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Darwin's Diary |
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Introduction | 1809-1825 | 1826-1829 | 1831 | 1832 | 1833 | 1835 | 1836 1837 |
1838 | 1842-1854 | 1856 | 1858-1859 | 1881 | 1882 |
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April-August 1831 (Voyage of the Beagle)
Darwin is destined for life as a country parson. But before
settling into such a quiet life, he yearns to have an adventure in the tropics.
He reads and rereads Alexander von Humboldt's inspiring account of his expeditions
through the rain forest.
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"All the while I am
writing now my head is running about the Tropics: in the morning I go and gaze at
Palm trees in the hot-house and come home and read Humboldt: my enthusiasm is so
great that I cannot hardly sit still on my chair ... I never will be easy till I
see the peak of Teneriffe and the great Dragon tree; sandy, dazzling plains, and
gloomy silent forest are alternately uppermost in my mind ... I have written myself
into a Tropical glow."
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Humboldt's Personal
Narrative is more than just an exciting travelogue. It touches on some of the
most important scientific questions of the time, and hints that the answers can be
found through an exploration of nature.
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"Humboldt's work
stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the
noble structure of Natural Science."
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For six months, Darwin
plans a "naturalizing" trip to the Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa, with
friends from Cambridge.
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"At present I talk,
& think & dream of a scheme I have almost hatched of going to the Canary
Islands ... I have long had a wish of seeing Tropical scenery & vegetation:
& according to Humboldt, Teneriffe [one of the Canary Islands] is a very
pretty specimen."
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Then, suddenly, his
hopes are dashed when one of his would-be travelling companions dies.
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Late August 1831 (Voyage of the Beagle)
Only days after his crushing disappointment, Darwin gets the
letter of his lifetime. His Cambridge mentor, John Stevens Henslow, has recommended
him to a Captain Robert FitzRoy for a two-year voyage around the world. Henslow
writes:
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"[T]here never was
a finer chance for a man of zeal & spirit ... [Capt. FitzRoy] wants a man (I
understand) more as a companion than a mere collector & would not take any one
however good a Naturalist who was not recommended to him likewise as a gentleman ...
[I recommend you] not on the supposition of yr. Being a finished Naturalist, but as
amply qualified for collecting, observing, & noting any thing worthy to be noted
in Natural History ... Don't put on any modest doubts or fears about your
disqualifications for I assure you I think you are the very man they are in search
of."
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Darwin is ecstatic.
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"I was instantly eager
to accept the offer, but my father strongly objected, adding the words fortunate for
me, -- 'If you can find any man of common sense, who advises you to go, I will give
my consent.'"
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Charles's father Robert
has many concerns about the proposed voyage. Charles makes a list of them:
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"(1) Disreputable to my character as a Clergyman hereafter.
(2) A wild scheme
(3) That they must have offered to many others before me, the place of Naturalist
(4) And from its not being accepted there must be some serious objection to the vessel
or expedition
(5) That I should never settle down to a steady life hereafter
(6) That my accommodations would be most uncomfortable
(7) That you should consider it as again changing my profession
(8) That it would be a useless undertaking"
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Darwin rushes to his
uncle Josiah Wedgwood II for help. Wedgwood addresses each of Charles's father's
concerns about the Beagle voyage. Near the end of his note, he writes:
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"The undertaking would
be useless as regards his profession [the clergy], but looking upon him as a man of
enlarged curiosity, it affords him such an opportunity of seeing men and things as
happens to few."
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His uncle is ultimately
persuasive:
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"As my uncle thought
it would be wise in me to accept the offer, and as my father always maintained that
he was one of the most sensible men in the world, he at once consented."
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The aristocratic
Captain Robert FitzRoy, at 26 years old, is worried about the strains ahead. He
wants a "gentleman" companion to relieve the isolation of command. In 1828,
plagued by scurvy and navigation errors, the captain of the first Beagle trip
to South America commits suicide after noting in his logbook "The soul of man
dies in him."
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September 1831 (Voyage of the Beagle)
After scurrying around London collecting supplies for the trip,
Darwin gets more bad news: Captain FitzRoy has offered the place to an unnamed "friend,"
but if this falls through, there may still be a spot. This "friend" may, in fact, be a
ploy -- a way for FitzRoy to reject Darwin if he doesn't like him.
Darwin sets off to London to meet the captain. He knows he will face
judgment. He is surprised to find FitzRoy "open & kind ... there is something most
extremely attractive in his manners, & way of coming straight to the point."
The point FitzRoy makes clear is that this will not be an easy voyage.
And he tests to make sure Darwin can "bear being told that I want the cabin to myself
when I want to be alone, -- if we treat each other this way, I hope we shall suit, if
not probably we should wish each other at the Devil."
FitzRoy writes a friend that night, "I like what I see and hear of
him, much ... I will make him comfortable on board, more so perhaps than you or he
would expect, and I will contrive to stow away his goods and chattels of all kinds."
Darwin is again elated.
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"Afterwards on
becoming very intimate with Fitz-Roy, I heard that I had run a very narrow risk
of being rejected, on account of the shape of my nose! He ... was convinced that
he could judge a man's character by the outline of his features; and he doubted
whether anyone with my nose could possess sufficient energy and determination for
the voyage."
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When Darwin first
sees the Beagle, he is struck by claustrophobia.
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"The absolute want
of room is an evil that nothing can surmount."
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But there is no
turning back. This will be his home for years. A crew of more than 60 men will
squeeze into a ship 90 feet long and 24 feet wide. Charles will share a
10-by-11-foot cabin with the 19-year-old assistant surveyor.
Darwin begins keeping detailed notebooks. He is determined
to make the most of the voyage.
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"I am often afraid
I shall be quite overwhelmed with the number of subjects which I ought to take
into hand. The principal objects are, first, collecting, observing and reading
in all branches of Natural History that I possibly can manage ... If I have not
energy enough to make myself steadily industrious during the voyage, how great
and uncommon an opportunity of improving myself shall I throw away. May this never
for one moment escape my mind."
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The cost of Darwin's
supplies -- microscopes, glassware, pickling fluids, and preserving papers -- runs
close to £600, comparable to two years' expenses at Cambridge University. His father
foots the bill.
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October-December 1831 (Voyage of the Beagle)
Darwin heads to the port of Plymouth. He packs gear into his
tiny cabin and tests out his hammock. But heavy gales keep the Beagle from
sailing, and Darwin is stalled.
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"These two months at
Plymouth were the most miserable which I ever spent ... I was out of spirits at the
thought of leaving my family and friends for so long a time, and the weather seemed
to me inexpressibly gloomy. I was also troubled with palpitations and pain about the
heart ... I did not consult any doctor, as I fully expected to hear the verdict that
I was not fit for the voyage, and I was resolved to go at all hazards."
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Finally, the Beagle
is stocked for the long journey ahead. Darwin notes, "All the stores are completed
and yesterday between five and six thousand canisters of preserved meat were stowed
away. Not one inch of room is lost; the hold would contain scarcely another bag of
bread. My notions of the inside of a ship were about as indefinite as those of some
men on the inside of a man ... a large cavity containing air, water and food,
mingled in hopeless confusion ..."
On December 27, 1831, the Beagle sets off for a proposed
two-year voyage.
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"The object of the
expedition was to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego ... to
survey the shores of Chile, Peru, and some of the islands of the Pacific; and to
carry a chain of chronometrical measurements round the world."
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In his cramped cabin,
Charles slings his hammock above the large worktable he shares with two men. It
takes him days to learn how to properly "jockey" into the hammock. He sleeps with
his face two feet beneath the skylight. "It is rather amusing," he writes, "whilst
lying in my hammock to watch the moon or stars performing their small revolutions."
The Beagle, a 10-gun brig designed for coastal surveys
in shallow waters, rides rough over the open sea. Throughout what will become a
five-year odyssey, Darwin is plagued by seasickness.
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"I will now give all
the dear-bought experience I have gained about seasickness. In the first place the
misery is excessive, and far exceeds what a person would suppose ... I found the
only relief to be in a horizontal position: but that it must never be forgotten the
more you combat with the enemy the sooner will he yield. I found the only thing my
stomach would bear was biscuit and raisins: but of this ... I soon grew tired ...
But the only sure thing is lying down, and if in a hammock so much the better."
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-> Go to 1832
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|
Introduction | 1809-1825 | 1826-1829 | 1831 | 1832 | 1833 | 1835 | 1836 1837 |
1838 | 1842-1854 | 1856 | 1858-1859 | 1881 | 1882 |
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