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The one with theories was his grandfather. His father did not pay for the trip, which was a scientific expedition payed by the British Crown to survey coasts. D
by motoboi 10y ago
The one with theories was his grandfather. His father did not pay for the trip, which was a scientific expedition payed by the British Crown to survey coasts. Darwin was a minor employee in that ship, hired to collect botanical specimen. In other words, Beagle trip was not for Darwin, but he seized the opportunity and, after almost 20 years of work after that, published his book because someone else was close to publish and he needed to claim the discovery by publishing first.
- mannykannot 10y agoWhile Darwin was formally only a minor employee, if he had any formal position (he was not a naval person), my understanding is that he was primarily there to keep Captain Fitzroy company, in an environment where the combination of social stratification and naval discipline meant that the captain was nominally in a sort of socially-imposed solitary confinement (I wonder how Cook managed on his voyages, but I suspect he was much more flexible than Fitzroy with regards to these matters.) Formally, the ship's surgeon was the expedition's naturalist, as was the practice in those days.