It is one hundred and eighty one years ago that Charles
Darwin set off on his great Voyage Of the Beagle. On the 5th of
September 1831 he was summoned to London to meet Robert FitzRoy the
captain of HMS Beagle, it was explained to Darwin that he had been
chosen to accompany FitzRoy as naturalist on his voyage around the
world.
Charles Darwin was just 21 years old, had never met the
captain or heard of the ship. The Admiralty had charged FitzRoy
with two missions, first to continue charting the coast of South
America and to get accurate fixings of longitude by taking
measurements on their round the world trip.
The voyage would take Darwin to sea for up to four years
but he was free to leave the ship at any time and return to
england.On the 27th of December that year The HMS Beagle left
Plymouth, they sailed across the Bay Of Biscay and out into the
Atlantic Ocean.
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