beagle diary – The Friends of Charles Darwin

13-Jan-1833: The day HMS Beagle nearly sank

Charles Darwin's closest brush with death during the Beagle voyage came on Sunday 13th January 1833, near that most infamous of nautical perils, Cape Horn.

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12-Feb-1834: Darwin's 25th birthday, Patagonia

How Charles Darwin spent his 25th birthday.

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A miserable birthday aboard HMS Beagle

On Charles Darwin's miserable 23rd birthday (his first aboard HMS Beagle).

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A cat among the pigeons
Could Charles Darwin really have been a moggy murderer?
Maureen Brian, FCD (12 June 1942 – 31 July 2018)
I was sad to learn via Facebook that Maureen Brian died earlier today.
The problem writing a book about Charles Darwin
…there are so damn many of the things already, how do you make your book different?
Re. Joyce
How the Friends of Charles Darwin motto was pre-empted by James Joyce.
24 not out… So, what next?
Today (2nd March 2018) marks the Friends of Charles Darwin's 24th birthday… Time, perhaps for something of a relaunch!

14-May-1856: Darwin starts writing his ‘big species book’
On 14 May 1856, Charles Darwin recorded in his journal that, on the advice of his friend Charles Lyell, after almost 20 years exploring the subject, he had finally begun writing a ‘sketch’ of his ideas on species.
If humans evolved from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys?
This is a question frequently posed by creationists—and quite often by perfectly rational people…
13-Jan-1833: The day HMS Beagle nearly sank
Charles Darwin's closest brush with death during the Beagle voyage came on Sunday 13th January 1833, near that most infamous of nautical perils, Cape Horn.
The great Darwin fossil hunt
In which a friend beyond measure arranges a behind-the-scenes visit to the Natural History Museum to see fossils collected by Charles Darwin during the Beagle voyage.
Spandrel sight-seeing
In which I visit the spandrels of San Marco in Venice.