Author : Captain HANS PETER JÜRGENS (German Cap Hornier)
Translation : Captain LIENTUR KLAPP W. (Chilean Navy)
Adapted by: Rear Admiral ROBERTO BENAVENTE M.

RESEARCH VESSEL "BEAGLE" IN THE CHANNELS OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO
During the first half of the XIX Century, it was rather unusual to send a vessel of the size of the "Beagle", completely by itself, for a long and dangerous research expedition to undiscovered regions.

Another unusual situation was to have two young tenacious and skilled professional on board, the Master of the vessel, Captain Robert Fitz Roy, and the scientist Charles Darwin.

Captain Fitz Roy whose meteorological knowledge permitted him, more than once, to decide on the best action possible in order to overcome difficult situations. Such as in the case – thanks to his perception regarding weather conditions – when he decided to opportunely abandon a dangerous anchorage area.

Due to his knowledge of wind, temperature and pressure fluctuations behavior, he is known as the Father of Meteorology among the English.

Thanks to his tidiness and working arrangements on board during his five-year navigation around the world in a sailing vessel, nobody on board the "Beagle" had suffered any sort of severe incident.

It was also thanks to the firm resolution of Fitz Roy that Charles Darwin had the opportunity to go on that voyage, making this unique expedition a success. In order to achieve the above objective, Fitz Roy may had even risked his personal property.

While observing the natives in the coastline and channels of Tierra del Fuego, Darwin first questioned about a steady form of life of the species. Here, he first noticed men in his primitive form which made him think: "is it possible that our predecessors were similar to them?"

In Galapagos Islands, Darwin discovered that birds and giant turtles were slightly different from one island to another. This meant that new forms of life were taking place in separate places.

Darwin collected notes during his five-year voyage, in order to study it later which would lead him to his theory described in his work "The Origin of Species". The efficiency of Fitz Roy widely exceeded what a sailor of that time could do.

Definitely, the hardest task was the survey of Tierra del Fuego’s coastline and channels. To do so, his highest courage and competence level was demanded. The result of the latter was a great number of charts, remarks and estimations that implemented the cartography of that time.

In order to assure the highest accuracy possible, the ship "Beagle" carried 22 chronometers with cardanic suspension which were hung and installed in such a way that avoided potential damages during the trip.

The "Beagle" originally belonged to the category of 6-gun-corvettes; however, under Fitz Roy’s command significant changes were made before its departure, so that the ship was changed into a small ship capable to carry out scientific research. The original paint of Captain Hans Peter Jürgens shows how, in an area of difficult navigation, a small ship was able to anchor in order to survey a portion of the coastline, where wreckage of a half-sunk vessel could be observed.