The offer of a position on the Beagle, which
Charles received on August 30, 1831, came through his advisor,
Henslow, at Cambridge. Henslow himself had been invited to be the
naturalist for the ship, but had turned down the opportunity. The
voyage had been commissioned by the government to map the coast
of South America and was being captained by Robert FitzRoy, a 26-year-old
gentleman who had led a ship to South America the year before. FitzRoy
was eager to have the companionship of someone who, unlike the
sailors and officers of the ship, was of his social class. A gentleman
naturalist would fit the bill perfectly, providing companionship
while increasing the usefulness and prestige of the voyage. Most
well-established naturalists, like Henslow, had proven to be busy
or disinclined, so the job had fallen to the promising but inexperienced
Charles Darwin.
Unfortunately, there was a hurdle to be crossed before
Charles could sign on. He needed his father's blessing. Robert
Darwin, however, had had enough of Charles's indolence. To Robert,
it looked the attempt to make Charles into a respectable clergyman was
about to fail as quickly as had his attempt to make him a physician.
In his eyes, the voyage was nothing but a dangerous and unprofitable
adventure that would do hurt Charles's chances for a solid career.
Furthermore it looked suspicious to Robert that other, better-known
naturalists had turned down the opportunity; there must be something
wrong, he argued, with the ship or its captain.
With a heavy heart, Charles rode to Maer to talk to his
uncle Josiah. Josiah agreed with Charles that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity;
there was certainly no reason to think that the voyage would interfere
with his career when he returned. In the meantime, it would provide
an unparalleled opportunity to see the world and maybe even do
some science in the process. He wrote a letter to Robert and sent
it off immediately, enumerating the reasons why the voyage would
be good for Charles. Charles returned to The Mount to find that
Robert had been convinced. If Josiah was in support of the trip,
Robert could hardly remain against it.
Overjoyed, Charles began to prepare frantically for the
voyage. The ship was scheduled to depart in a couple of weeks.
But as he prepared, he received a shattering note: it turned out
that there had been a miscommunication and FitzRoy had already
promised the position to a friend. Charles would get the position
only if the friend refused. Despite this setback he rushed to London
to meet FitzRoy for an interview. FitzRoy seemed temperamental,
but they got along reasonably well, and in the end FitzRoy's friend
declined. Charles was given the position. He also found out that
the trip was more likely to last three years than two, and that
he would have to pay his own way.
Having secured the position, Charles made a last farewell
trip to visit Woodhouse, where he found out that Fanny Owen's
engagement had just been broken, news that might have gladdened
him in another situation He also visited Maer and The Mount to
bid adieu to the Wedgwood relatives and his father and siblings.
On October 2, 1831, he returned to London where he bought supplies
and consulted with local taxidermists and naturalists on how best
to preserve and return the samples he collected while on the voyage.
The ship's departure was delayed several times while the
ship was prepared. Poor weather delayed the crew even more. Finally, on
December 10, they set sail, but were soon turned back by gale winds
that rocked the boat and left Darwin miserably nauseated. On December
21, they had what looked like perfect weather and tried again.
It was a bad start: FitzRoy almost immediately ran the ship aground,
but fortunately nothing was damaged and they quickly set sail again.
But when Darwin woke up after his first night's sleep on the ship,
he found that they were headed back to England. A wind from the
southwest was pushing them back to where they had come from. Finally,
after a muted Christmas spent at the port, the ship left on December
27, 1831.
