Voyages of Discovery

Posted by John Blatchford Jan 10, 2008

Darwin and Fitzroy

Darwin’s trip on the Beagle helped him establish himself as a reputable scientist, and my article ‘Darwin’s Studies’ describes how he developed from an amateur enthusiast. Although he is always associated with theories about evolution he also worked on many other biological and geological problems. His works on earthworms, coral reefs and barnacles are still held in high regard.

But Darwin was not the sole example of a naturalist who profited from naval expeditions:

Cook and Banks

HMS Endeavour left Plymouth in 1768 to sail round Cape Horn and then on to Tahiti. She stayed three months to make astronomical observations (a transit of Venus) before continuing towards New Zealand charting the Southern Hemisphere. On April 29 1770 Cook made the first landing on the coast of Australia, and the botanist Joseph Banks went ashore. Cook originally named the place ‘Stingray Bay’, but later decided to call it ‘Botany Bay’ to acknowledge the many unique plant discoveries made by Banks.

At a time when only the rich had the luxury of the time to study plants and animals it was often naval expeditions like these two that gave British naturalists the opportunity to carry their enthusiasms beyond the English countryside. They travelled the world and brought back new specimens which fuelled the academic development of the life sciences.