LONDON (AP) - British maritime historians said Thursday they may have located the Beagle, the ship that took Charles Darwin on the voyages of discovery and where he began formulating his theory of natural selection. Using radar technology, historians found what they believe is the 90-foot Beagle, 18 feet beneath the mud of marshes in Essex county, east of London. "We can see the outline of a dock for the ship and can make out wood and metal, which is highly suggestive that there is indeed something substantial down there, most probably the bottom of the Beagle," said Robert Prescott, leader of a team from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, which has spent four years investigating the site.
Researchers used a census listing crewmen’s families living on the Beagle as well as old maps to help trace the vessel to an area of the marsh near Potton Island. The Beagle, a 10-gun naval fighting ship, was launched at the Woolwich Royal Dockyard on the River Thames in 1820. After a few years’ service, it was refitted as a science vessel. From 1831 to 1835, Darwin traveled aboard the Beagle to Patagonia and the Galapagos Islands, where he made extensive studies of the flora and fauna. The Beagle was later used as a coast guard vessel around Southend in Essex, but its 235-ton bulk annoyed local oystermen and it was sold to the Navy and towed to the nearby backwater where researchers say it now lies. |