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Science Cafe: 200th Anniversary of HMS Beagle

HMS Beagle  on the Strait of Magellan, South America (1890)

200th Anniversary of HMS Beagle

BBC Radio Wales - Science Cafe, 200th Anniversary of HMS Beagle

Adam Walton marks the 200th anniversary of the launch of HMS Beagle

Adam Walton marks the 200th anniversary of HMS Beagle - the vessel which took Charles Darwin around the world and perhaps the most important ship in the history of science.

In December 1831 a ship left the Royal Navy dockyard at Devonport and set out on a voyage which would take five years and circumnavigate the world. The ship was small compared with most Navy vessels. Originally launched in 1820,  she was a ten gun brig just 90 feet long but somehow packing in a crew of 74. 

That expedition would become perhaps the most important voyage in the history of science. And the insights and thoughts of one particular member of the crew would lay the foundations of the theory of evolution by natural selection. That man was, of course, Charles Darwin and the ship which took him around the world was HMS Beagle.

In this week's Science Cafe Adam Walton marks the 200th anniversary of the launch of the Beagle by telling the story of the ship and the voyage that changed our understanding of biology. He discovers the adventures and perils of the journey and the experience of life on board the Beagle for Charles Darwin and the rest of the crew. And he finds out just what Darwin observed to plant the seeds of the theory which changed the world.

To chart the history of HMS Beagle Adam is joined by Dr Alison Pearn from the Darwin Correspondence Project and Dr Gordon Chancellor from Darwin Online. We also hear about the Beagle Project - which is continuing the ship's scientific and educational legacy - from David Lort-Phillips and Professor Richard Oliver. 

And Strategic Director of Rochford District Council, Angela Hutchings, joins Adam to talk about the campaign to commemorate and celebrate the Beagle's last resting place in an Essex river.

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