HMS Beagle
Charles Darwin's ship of discovery
- The HMS Beagle was the ship on which Charles Darwin made his voyage to the Galapagos Islands resulting in his theories of origins of species and natural selection
- Launched in 1820 as a ship of survey and exploration
- The first man-of-war to sail fully under the old London Bridge
- In 1831, under command of Captain Robert Fitzroy, sailed to South America with an unpaid naturalist aboard - Charles Darwin
- She was a 10 gun brig which sailed to some of the most desolate parts of the globe
- Spent 15 years mapping many areas of the world
- In 1845, she was sold to the coastguard and fitted as a watch vessel
- Sold and broken up in 1870
- Even though very famous, very few accurate replicas of the HMS Beagle exist - seldom if ever seen in museums
- NOTE: This model is in the private collection of Mr. Charles Bechtel of Midland, TX