134: THE VOYAGE. [ch. vi. 



Admiral Mellersh writes to me : " Your father is as vivid- 

 ly in my mind's eye as if it was only a week ago that I 

 was in the Beagle with him ; his genial smile and conver- 

 sation can never be forgotten by any who saw them and 

 heard them. I was sent on two or three occasions away 

 in a boat with him on some of his scientific excursions, 

 and always looked forward to these trips with great pleas- 

 ure, an anticipation that, unlike many others, was always 

 realised. I think he was the only man I ever knew against 

 whom I never heard a word said ; and as people when shut 

 up in a ship for five years are apt to get cross with each 

 other, that is saying a good deal." 



Admiral Stokes, Mr. King, Mr. Usborne, and Mr. Ha- 

 mond, all speak of their friendship with him in the same 

 warm-hearted way. 



Captain Fitz-Roy was a strict officer, and made himself 

 thoroughly respected both by officers and men. The occa- 

 sional severity of his manner was borne with because every 

 one on board knew that his first thought was his duty, and 

 that he would sacrifice anything to the real welfare of the 

 ship. My father writes, July 1834 : " We all jog on very 

 well together, there is no quarrelling on board, which is 

 something to say. The Captain keeps all smooth by row- 

 ing every one in turn." 



My father speaks of the officers as a fine determined set 

 of men, and especially of Wickham, the first lieutenant, as 

 a " glorious fellow." The latter being responsible for the 

 smartness and appearance of the ship strongly objected to 

 Darwin littering the decks, and spoke of specimens as " d d 

 beastly devilment," and used to add, " If I were skipper, I 

 would soon have you and all your d d mess out of the 

 place." 



A sort of halo of sanctity was given to my father by the 

 fact of his dining in the Captain's cabin, so that the mid- 

 shipmen used at first to call him " Sir," a formality, how- 

 ever, which did not prevent his becoming fast friends with 

 the younger officers. He wrote about the year 1861 or 1862 

 to Mr. P. Gr. King, M.L.C., Sydney, who, as before stated, 

 was a midshipman on board the Beagle : " The remem- 

 brance of old days, when we used to sit and talk on the 



how he overheard the boatswain of the Beaqle showing another boatswain 

 over the ship, and pointing out the officers : " that's our first lieutenant ; that's 

 our doctor ; that's our flycatcher." 



