Fossils, Finches And Fuegians: Charles Darwin's Adventures And Discoveries On 'The Beagle', 1832-36

Richard Keynes

Editions

Review

The voyage of the ‘Beagle’ is one of the most famous exploring trips ever made because of the influence of Darwin’s discoveries.  It was in fact the ship’s second voyage: the first was commanded by Phillip Parker King – Robert Fitzroy was the commander of the companion ship, the ‘Adventure’.  It was on this voyage that Fitzroy picked up three natives of Tierra del Fuego and took them back to England.  It was because he wanted to return them to their own country that he pressed the Admiralty to let him make another trip, on which he could continue the survey of the South American coast that King had begun.  Persuaded by his earlier experience that the area was geologically interesting, he wished to take a scientist with him, partly for company: after some hasty enquiries, the young Darwin was produced.

What followed was an amazing feat of endurance and sustained enquiry, both by Darwin and Fitzroy.  It is well known that the observations made by Darwin on the voyage led, in due course, to his Theory of Evolution.  What this book does so admirably is to put his observations and discoveries into context.  Keynes does not forget the other aspects of the expedition: the importance of the relationship between Darwin and Fitzroy, and the rest of the ship’s company; the survey itself – Fitzroy’s primary duty.  Thus the extraordinary energy displayed by Darwin emerges, in part, as the result of charismatic leadership of the expedition as a whole.  Nor does Keynes pretend that Darwin immediately tumbled to his theory as soon as he saw a couple of dinosaur parts in a cliff at Punta Alta.  His intimate knowledge of Darwin’s notes (he edited them) enables him to show the slow development of his thoughts from observations and questions to theories.  He scotches the myth that Fitzroy was a Christian who interpreted the Bible literally, while Darwin was an atheist, making the point that Fitzroy only converted to this view after his marriage on their return, while Darwin did not even privately question the accepted view of the Creation until after the voyage.

Richard Keynes is a descendant of Darwin and is therefore very sympathetic towards him.  He has also edited Darwin’s letters and his immense collection of notes, and is himself a scientist, so there is a sense of effortless familiarity with his subject.  This allows him a broad scope, and the confidence to follow up digressions without ever losing the thread.  Extensive quotation from Darwin’s scientific notes was not off-putting for this scientific ignoramus, it just helped illustrate Darwin’s startling abilities, and the pages about the Fuegians are not irrelevant, for they were more central to the Beagle’s raison d’être than Darwin himself.  This is a moving portrait of a powerfully attractive, as well as important, episode in the history of exploration.  It is, incidentally, the factual background to Roger McDonald’s marvellous novel Mr Darwin's Shooter pbk £12, about Syms Covington, the ship’s boy and Darwin’s servant on board. - review by John de Falbe