CHAPTER VI. 



THE VOYAGE. 



" There is a natural good-humoured energy in his letters just 

 like himself." — From a letter of Dr. R. W. Darwin's to Prof. Henslow. 



[The object of the Beagle voyage is briefly described in 

 my father's 'Journal of Researches,' p. i, as being "to com- 

 plete the Survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego^ com- 

 menced under Captain King in 1826 to 1830; to survey the 

 shores of Chile, Peru, and some island in the Pacific; and 

 to carry a chain of chronometrical measurements round the 

 world." 



The Beagle is described as a well-built little vessel, of 

 235 tons, rigged as a barque, and carrying six guns. She 

 belonged to the old class of ten-gun brigs, which were nick- 

 named " coffins," from their liability to go down in severe 

 weather. They were very " deep-waisted," that is, their bul- 

 warks were high in proportion to their size, so that a heavy 

 sea breaking over them might be highly dangerous. Never- 

 theless, she lived through the five years' work, in the most 

 stormy regions in the world, under Commanders Stokes and 

 Fitz-Roy, without a serious accident. When re-commissioned 

 in 1 83 1 for her second voyage, she was found (as I learn from 

 Admiral Sir James Sulivan) to be so rotten that she had 

 practically to be rebuilt, and it was this that caused the long 

 delay in refitting. The upper deck was raised, making her 

 much safer in heavy weather, and giving her far more com- 



