In the 1830’s, a young Englishman by the name of Charles Darwin became the ship naturalist aboard the HMS “Beagle.” The ship was a map-making vessel and each time the ship went into port, Charles explored the local area.
Charles Darwin was a great diarist and recorded frolicking adventures in his book: The Voyage of the Beagle. As he explored, he sent home specimens of plants and animals and thus became quite a fine supplier of English museums. Personally, I think that his memoirs placed him on a meteoric rise to “rock-stardom” in an age when that phrase had most likely not even been considered. Back-in-the-day, those who wrote memoirs of their travels became the new “reality series” purveyors. Book reading was perhaps the mode of vicarious adventure for most home-dwellers before radio became popular.
During the period of the Voyage (of the Beagle), the Abolitionist movement had peaked in England. Darwin gave several heart-rending accounts of slavery in the New World in this volume. Slavery was a world-wide, world-view issue and was abolished in England in 1833, while he was making his “voyage.” The resolution of the same issue in the United States lead to the death of many Union and Confederate soldiers.
Charles did give delightful descriptions of the landscapes he encountered in his worldwide journey, with South America being the centerpiece. Adventures with native peoples and life lessons were strewn throughout the book. He used Christian imagery in the book and it is quite the delightful read, regardless of whether you agree with his later dwellings on the “natural” beginning of things.
I highly recommend the Harvard Classic version of this book, “The Voyage of the Beagle,” by Charles Darwin. Like so many Europeans at the time, I believe you will fall in love with Charles’ storytelling and his worldwide adventures!
7-9-2025
My GB2 class and lab have begun reading selections from the Penguin Classic of Voyage of the Beagle. I picked the Penguin classic for ease of availability to my students and bookstore stock at my campus.
I never cease to be amazed at the descriptive prowess of Charles Darwin. I applaud his dedication to record-keeping and his willingness to publish. He is a great example for scientists of all ages regarding documentation and sharing of knowledge.
I also think about 200 years ago: no cell phones, email or social media. (Except for books, firesides, churches, taverns and plays.) I believe the publication of this book made him a “virtual reality” Rockstar in the mind of all who read his work.
I perused the Penguin book twice yesterday (with the continued intention of classroom/lab reading and intend to bypass potentially sensitive passages. I do not want objections to cultural observations and differences 200 years ago to interfere with the appreciation of the majesty of Darwin’s descriptive writing of nature.
BrotherBarnes
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