This Thing of Darkness

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Topolino

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Have just finished reading “This Thing of Darkness” by by Harry Thompson. It’s a cracking read and tells the story the relationship between Captain Robert Fitzroy and Charles Darwin and of how over the course of the 5 years which they spent together on MMS Beagle their friendship became increasingly strained because the theories which were being formed in Darwin’s mind clashed with Fitzroy’s firmly held Christian beliefs and his very literal belief in the Bible. The book relates how their careers developed along very separate lines but that Fitzroy was as noteable in many ways as his more celebrated associate.
However I was struck by the extraordinary success of those who sailed in the humble Beagle. The Beagle was a 3 masted barque of 235 tons with 10 guns. Such ships were commonly known as a coffin brigs because more 10 gun brigs were lost each year than any other class of ship. And yet no less than 5 of the Beagles officers attained the rank of admiral. 2 became Fellows of the Royal Society. Their ranks also included Governor Generals of New Zealand and Queensland, a member of Parliament, and the heads of the Board of Trade and the Meteorological office, 2 artists who achieved considerable renown in their respective countries, 3 doctors, the secretaries of the Geological Society and the Royal Geographical society, an Inspector of Coastguards and the founding father of the Falklands. And finally one of the founders of meteorology and another the author of The Origin of the species.
The Beage ended her days as a static coastguard watch vessel moored mid-river in the River Roach to control smuggling throughout the extensive maze of waterways in the area. The 1851 Navy List dated 25 May records an ignominious change of status by having her renamed as: Southend "W.V. No. 7" at Paglesham but later in that year she suffered a more grievous misfortune after the oyster companies, petitioned for her to be removed as she was obstructing the river and its oyster-beds. In 1870, she was sold to "Messrs Murray and Trainer" to be broken up.
Investigations started in 2000 by a team from the University of St Andrews indicated that her last resting place was north bank of Paglesham Reach near the Eastend Wharf and near Waterside Farm. An atomic dielectric resonance survey carried out in 2003 found traces of timbers 15 ft deep on the tidal river-bank, forming the size and shape of the lower hull, indicating a substantial amount of timbers from below the waterline still in place.
So if you should find yourself moored in the lower reaches of the Roach, listen out for the ominous ghostly voices of former crew members of "W.V. No. 7" who accompanied her on epic voyages to Patagonia and the Pacific Islands, expeditions which dramatically changed the course of Science and History.
 
Fascinating. Much of my knowledge of Darwin was from the old B&W TV series which dramatised the relationship in a plausible way. Both Darwin and Fitzroy are great heroes in my mind, and both changed the course of history.

I read 'The Descent of Man' a year ago. It is hard going, even more so than the Origin of Species, but it represents a fascinating glimpse into the limitations of a Victorian view of the world, where the whole field of genetics was unknown.
 
There is / was a ships wheel in the Blue Boar Maldon that reputedly came from a ship that was broken up at Pagglesham.

I say was because the new owner is a totally different beast to John W who used to own it and may have dumped it.
 
It is believed that some of the timber used in the building of Shuttlewood's 'old black shed' may well have came from the Beagle, or WV No 7, after she was laid up in the saltings in sadly reduced circumstances.

Many barges, oyster smacks and later yachts were built in this shed at the top of the hard at East End Paglesham. The shed is no longer in use but there has been talk of developing it as a local history/Beagle museum.

This Thing of Darkness sounds like a good read... will try to get hold of a copy.
 
A few years ago I took an American Girlfriend to the London Museums. In the Natural History we were approached by a white coated woman who asked if we would like to peruse Darwin's Collection in the basement. Of coarse I was eager and excited to get such an offer, not sure the girlfriend shared my enthusiasm. Don't know what she was expecting from a day out in London. It was a rare privilege.
Fitzroy was born in Suffolk and I believe lived in Marlesford, Wickham Market not far from my home. He developed what became the Met Office. Fascinating man.
Robert FitzRoy - Wikipedia
 
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Another character who is less known is John Gould. Many years ago I was in London and was intrigued by some wildlife lithographs in the window of Southeran's near Piccadilly. I ended up buying a couple, one of a toucan and one of humming birds, for £5 and £6/10 respectively, which are on the wall nearby as I write. They came from the estate of John Gould and were later hand-coloured for sale.

John Gould travelled and collected birds, paying artists, including Edward Lear, and publishing very expensive books for the wealthy. Darwin consulted him about some specimens he brought back on the beagle. It was Gould, who had had no academic training, who recognised that the funny-looking birds from the Galapagos were finches and that they were related. And the rest, of course, is history.
 
Fitzroy was a remarkable man, joined the Navy at 12 years of age, gained his first command at 23 when he took over a ship that was surveying the southern tip of South America.

Returned to England and at 26 was given command of the Beagle to return to Cape Horn to complete surveying the East and West southern coasts of South America. Taking the unknown Darwin with him and completing a circumnavigation in Beagle. It was during this circumnavigation that he formed his first idea's about weather forecasting,

He later served as member of parliament and Governor of New Zealand where his concerns were for the common man against colonial self interest. His development of weather forecasting was again primarily humanitarian to provide information for ordinary seaman about impending bad weather - again, against the self interest of large ship owners.

He did all this whilst suffering from what Churchill called his "Black Dog" which is where the title for the book comes from - this depression finally overcame him and he took his own life. A tragic way for a giant of man who achieved so much to end.

The book "This Thing of Darkness" is worth reading, the main events being historically correct it should though be noted it is a novel with some of the dialogue between characters imagined. I would also recommend "Fitzroy" by John and Mary Gribbin more of a historical text - both give a real sense of the man.
 
Also read 'This thing of darkness a few years ago', agree a great book, fascinating to read. Had very little knowledge of Robert Fitzroy before reading, he really was a man ahead of his time, spending all of his money to further the public good. Like a lot of such visionaries he was shafted by the establishment and vested interests and had a very sad end.
 
I agree that this is a fantastic novel. I think Darwin comes out of it really badly and he was a very strange man (Try the huge biography of him by Adrian Desmond and James Moore). Tragically, I think that the author, Harry Thomson ,died around the time of publication so we were deprived of a huge talent.
 
I don't know the details, but as far as I know, Darwin didn't actually formulate his ideas until after his return, so the idea of Darwin and Fitzroy arguing about the biblical implications of natural selection seems a bit fanciful, though it appeared in the old TV series about the voyage. Evolution itself was perhaps something of a stumbling block to literalists at the time but had reached quite a large degree of acceptance and already given rise to Lamarkism, a trace of which remains in Darwin's writing. Darwin seems to have had an ambivalent attitude towards religion, and The Origin of Species even ends with a religiose comment.
 
johnalison said:
I don't know the details, but as far as I know, Darwin didn't actually formulate his ideas until after his return, so the idea of Darwin and Fitzroy arguing about the biblical implications of natural selection seems a bit fanciful, though it appeared in the old TV series about the voyage. Evolution itself was perhaps something of a stumbling block to literalists at the time but had reached quite a large degree of acceptance and already given rise to Lamarkism, a trace of which remains in Darwin's writing. Darwin seems to have had an ambivalent attitude towards religion, and The Origin of Species even ends with a religiose comment.
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I'm pretty sure you're right; some vague ideas may have been floating round in his head during the voyage, but it wasn't until he started to write the results up that it firmed up. Indeed, like Newton, he had to be persuaded to publish his results; it was only the knowledge that someone else (I forget who) was about to publish something similar that prompted the publication of the "Origin of Species". The crucial idea was that of natural selection; that random changes that allowed an organism to compete more successfully could be passed to the organism's offspring, and that success could be measured in terms of the number of offspring.

Darwin's attitude to religion is something that is difficult to define, as it is with many very high-powered thinkers! He himself generally avoided controversy; it was his disciple and promoter, Huxley, who engaged in the well-known debate with Bishop Wilberforce. It's also worth remembering that much of what we call science was done by members of the clergy in the 19th century. Literal interpretation of Scripture wasn't as widespread as we imagine, though it was more widespread than it is these days (few Christians outside the Bible Belt of Mid-West USA apply a literal interpretation to the first few chapters of Genesis!)
 
Alfred Russel Wallace was indeed an interesting man. Although not exactly humble, he had fewer advantages than Darwin. I have a couple of book by him. One 'The Malay Archipelago' from Penguin is long but superbly written. It doesn't really go into his conjectures but describes his years in the Far East and his many difficulties there. He had to pay for his work by sending specimens back to Britain. Some of the accounts of sailing between the islands are pretty hairy.

Another book is an oddity. 'Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro;with an Account of the Native Tribes and Observations on the Climate, Geology, and Natural History of the' is published in a scanned but unedited form by General Books, which means that there are typological errors. It is about his first trip, at the end of which he was shipwrecked on the way home, lost all his specimens, but kept the diaries. It is a curiosity but quite interesting.
 
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