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The
HMS Beagle off Tierra del Fuego
Captain Fitzroy exploring the waters
around the "Land of Fire"
In 1832, the HMS Beagle was assigned
by the Admiralty to explore the land and waters around Tierra
del Fuego [Land of Fire]. Captain Robert Fitzroy successfully
mapped and charted over eighty harbors and forty views of
previously unexplored and dangerous channel waters.
Captain Fitzroy's secondary purpose
for this voyage was to gather supporting evidence to prove
the existence of the Great Flood as it was described in the
Old Testament. The Captain was an extremely religious man
who believed almost fanatically in Genesis and the first four
books of the Bible.
At his own expense, Fitzroy outfitted
a second ship, the Adventure, to help gather the sought after
evidence. In this view, the two ships are situated in the
Straits of Magellan near Mount Sarmiento. Ironically, to assist
in gathering this information, Captain Fitzroy hired on a
young gentleman, Charles Darwin.
Although the primary purpose of the
voyage - mapping and charting - was accomplished, it was the
discoveries made by the relatively obscure young naturalist,
Charles Darwin, which make this voyage of the Beagle an historic
landmark in science.From notes
made on the five year Beagle expedition, Darwin, twenty years
later, published his "Origin of the Species" in
1859 and rocked the civilized world.
22 x 25 in. lithograph - 1035 edition
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