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