HMS "Beagle"

'After having twice been driven back by heavy south-west gales, Her Majesty's Ship BEAGLE, a ten-gun brig under the command of Captain Fitzroy, sailed from Devonport on the 27th December, 1813.' With these words, Charles Darwin began his account of the voyage that was forever to change his life and ours. Almost 190 years later, we know a great deal about Darwin and his adventures on the HMS BEAGLE, but we know almost nothing about the ship. Hardly some dashing frigate or three-decker ablaze with guns and glory, the BEAGLE was, in the navy of the day, a "coffin brig", a member of the class more likely to sink than make two successful circumnavigations of the Earth. For such a famous ship surprisingly little is known about the BEAGLE. Keith Thomson has created a biography of the ship - her construction, her voyages, and even her final resting place.