The Voyage of the Beagle

The Voyage of the Beagle is a title commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks, which brought him considerable fame and respect. The title refers to the second survey expedition of the ship HMS Beagle which set out on 27 December 1831 under the command of captain Robert FitzRoy.

Publication of Darwin's book

Darwin was invited by FitzRoy to contribute the natural history section to the captain's account of the Beagle's voyage, and using his field notes and the journal which he had been sending home for his family to read, completed this section by September 1837. As well as writing his own account of the voyage and the previous expedition of two ships, FitzRoy had to edit the notes of the previous captain of the Beagle. The account was completed and published in May 1839 as the Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle in four volumes. Volume one covers the first voyage under Commander Philip Parker King, volume two is FitzRoy's account of the second voyage. Darwin's Journal and Remarks, 1832—1836 forms the third volume, the fourth volume being a lengthy appendix. Darwin's contribution proved remarkably popular and the publisher, Henry Colburn of London, took it upon himself to reissue the same text in August with a new title page as Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle apparently without seeking Darwin's permission or paying him a fee.

Related Topics:
1837 - 1839

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Later editions: changing ideas on evolution

The book went through many editions, and was subsequently published with several different titles. The best known was the second edition of 1845 which incorporated extensive revisions in the light of interpretation of the collections and developing ideas on evolution. This edition was commissioned by the publisher John Murray, who actually paid Darwin a fee.

Related Topics:
1845 - John Murray

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In the first edition regarding the similarity of Galápagos wildlife to that on the South American continent, Darwin remarks "The circumstance would be explained, according to the views of some authors, by saying that the creative power had acted according to the same law over a wide area" in a reference to Charles Lyell's ideas of "centres of creation". He notes the gradations in size of the beaks of species of finches, suspects that species "are confined to different islands", "But there is not space in this work, to enter into this curious subject."

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Later editions hint at his new ideas on evolution:

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:"Considering the small size of these islands, we feel the more astonished at the number of their aboriginal beings, and at their confined range... within a period geologically recent the unbroken ocean was here spread out. Hence, both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhat near to that great fact – that mystery of mysteries – the first appearance of new beings on this earth."

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Speaking of the finches with their gradations in size of beaks, he writes "one might really fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends."

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