Editing HMS Beagle (section)

==Second voyage (1831–1836)==
{{main|Second voyage of HMS Beagle}}

FitzRoy had been given reason to hope that the South American Survey would be continued under his command, but when the Lords of the Admiralty appeared to abandon the plan, he made alternative arrangements to return the Fuegians. A kind uncle heard of this and contacted the Admiralty. Soon afterwards FitzRoy heard that he was to be appointed commander of {{HMS|Chanticleer|1808|6}} to go to Tierra del Fuego, but due to her poor condition ''Beagle'' was substituted for the voyage. FitzRoy was re-appointed as commander on 27 June 1831 and ''Beagle'' was [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 4 July 1831 under his command, with Lieutenants [[John Clements Wickham]] and [[Bartholomew Sulivan|Bartholomew James Sulivan]].{{sfn|FitzRoy|1839|pp=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F10.2&pageseq=36 13–17]}}

''Beagle'' was immediately taken into dock at [[HMNB Devonport|Devonport]] for extensive rebuilding and refitting. As she required a new deck, FitzRoy had the upper-deck raised considerably, by {{convert|8|in|mm}} aft and {{convert|12|in|mm}} forward. The ''Cherokee''-class ships had the reputation of being "[[coffin]]" brigs, which handled badly and were prone to sinking. Apart from increasing headroom below, the raised deck made ''Beagle'' less liable to top-heaviness and possible capsize in heavy weather by reducing the volume of water that could collect on top of the upper deck, trapped aboard by the [[gunwale]]s. Additional sheathing added to the hull added about seven tons to her [[Builder's Old Measurement|burthen]] and perhaps fifteen to her displacement.{{sfn|FitzRoy|1839|pp=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F10.2&pageseq=40 17–18]}}{{sfn|Stokes|1846|loc=[[s:Discoveries in Australia/Volume 1/Chapter 1|Volume 1, Chapter 1]]}}

The ship was one of the first to be fitted with the [[lightning rod|lightning conductor]] invented by [[William Snow Harris]]. FitzRoy spared no expense in her fitting out, which included [[List of chronometers on HMS Beagle|22 chronometers]],{{sfn|FitzRoy|1839|pp=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F10.2&pageseq=40 17–18]}}<ref name=RMG/> and five examples of the ''[[Sympiesometer]]'', a kind of [[Mercury (element)|mercury]]-free [[barometer]] patented by [[Alexander Adie]] which was favoured by FitzRoy as giving the accurate readings required by the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.antique-horology.org/_editorial/sympiezometerfontijn/ |title=The sympiesometer designed by Alexander Adie |access-date=30 November 2007 |last=Fontijn |first=Marco |work=The Horological Foundation}}</ref> To reduce magnetic interference with the navigational instruments, FitzRoy proposed replacing the iron guns with brass guns, but the Admiralty turned this request down. (When the ship reached [[Rio de Janeiro]] in April 1832, he used his own funds for replacements: the ship now had a "six-pound boat-carronade" on a turntable on the forecastle, two brass six-pound guns before the main-mast, and aft of it another four brass guns; two of these were nine-pound, and the other two six-pound.){{sfn|Taylor|2008|pp=24, 35}}{{sfn|FitzRoy |1839|p=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F10.2&viewtype=text&pageseq=117 82]}}

FitzRoy had found a need for expert advice on geology during the first voyage, and had resolved that if on a similar expedition, he would "endeavour to carry out a person qualified to examine the land; while the officers, and myself, would attend to hydrography."{{sfn|King|1839|p=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F10.1&pageseq=477 385]}} Command in that era could involve stress and loneliness, as shown by the suicide of Captain Stokes, and FitzRoy's own uncle [[Viscount Castlereagh]] had committed suicide under stress of overwork.{{sfn|Desmond|Moore|1991|p=104}} His attempts to get a friend to accompany him fell through, and he asked his friend and superior Captain [[Francis Beaufort]] to seek a gentleman [[Natural history|naturalist]] as a self-financing passenger who would give him company during the voyage. A sequence of inquiries led to [[Charles Darwin]], a young gentleman on his way to becoming a rural clergyman, joining the voyage.{{sfn|Browne|Neve|1989|pp=4–7}} FitzRoy was influenced by the [[physiognomy]] of [[Johann Kaspar Lavater|Lavater]], and Darwin recounted in his autobiography that he was nearly "rejected, on account of the shape of my nose! He was an ardent disciple of Lavater, & was convinced that he could judge a man's character by the outline of his features; & he doubted whether anyone with my nose could possess sufficient energy & determination for the voyage."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/01/fantastically-wrong-physiognomy/ |title=Fantastically Wrong: The Silly Theory That Almost Kept Darwin From Going on His Famous Voyage |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |first=Matt |last=Simon |date=January 2015 |access-date=25 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Darwin |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Darwin |title=[[The Autobiography of Charles Darwin]] |chapter=Recollections of the development of my mind & character |chapter-url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=82&itemID=CUL-DAR26.1-121&viewtype=side |editor-last=Darwin |editor-first=Francis |editor-link=Francis Darwin |via=[[The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online]] |page=49 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |year=1887}}</ref>

''Beagle'' was originally scheduled to leave on 24 October 1831, but because of delays in her preparations the departure was delayed until December. Setting forth on what was to become a ground-breaking scientific expedition, she departed from Devonport on 10 December. Due to bad weather her first stop was just a few miles ahead, at Barn Pool, on the west side of [[Plymouth Sound]].{{sfn|FitzRoy|1839|p=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F10.2&pageseq=65 42]}} ''Beagle'' left anchorage from Barn Pool on 27 December, passing the nearby town of Plymouth. After completing extensive surveys in South America she returned via New Zealand, Sydney, Hobart Town (6 February 1836), to [[Falmouth, Cornwall]], England, on 2 October 1836.{{sfn|FitzRoy|1839|p=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F10.2&pageseq=757 638]}}

Darwin had kept a diary of his experiences, and combined this with details from his scientific notes as the book titled ''Journal and Remarks'', published in 1839 as the third volume of the official account of the expedition. This travelogue and scientific journal was widely popular, and was reprinted many times with various titles and a revised second edition, becoming known as ''[[The Voyage of the Beagle]]''.<ref name=Darwin1839>{{harvnb|Darwin|1839}}</ref> {{harvnb|Darwin| 1989 |pp=2–3, 24}}

<gallery widths=200 heights=200>
File:HMS Beagle by Conrad Martens.jpg|''Beagle'' being hailed by native Fuegians during the survey of [[Tierra del Fuego]], painted by [[Conrad Martens]] who became ship's artist in 1833
File:HMS Beagle 1832 longitudinal section larger.jpg|Longitudinal section of HMS ''Beagle'' as of 1832
File:TheBeagleLaidAshore.png|''The Beagle Laid Ashore'' by the [[Santa Cruz River, Argentina|Santa Cruz river]] in Argentina, drawn by [[Conrad Martens]] (1834), and engraved by [[Thomas Landseer]] (1838)
File:Admiralty Chart No 1375 Galapagos Islands, Published 1841.jpg|Admiralty Chart of the [[Galápagos Islands]], one of the charts resulting from Fitzroy's hydrographic surveys
</gallery>