Tall Ship Recreates Darwin's HMS Beagle Voyage

Charles Darwin’s famous voyage of discovery - which resulted in the development of the theory of evolution - is being recreated by a team of environmental researchers and travellers on board a three-masted schooner. 

The Oosterschelde will undertake a 40,000 nautical mile voyage from Plymouth, UK dropping anchor at 32 ports across four continents before eventually arriving back in the UK at Falmouth in July 2025. 

Locations visited will mirror many of those visited by Darwin including the Galápagos archipelago, the Falkland Islands, and more.

The vessel, which is the largest sailing vessel ever to be restored in the Netherlands, was originally built in 1917 as a cargo vessel. Following a major refurbishment it was relaunched in 1996. Today, the Oosterschelde is registered by the Dutch government as a ‘monument of great cultural and historical value’.

The environmental researchers and travellers on board the Oosterschelde will be tasked with sailing the vessel, undertaking tasks such as steering, navigating and manning the ropes; albeit under the guidance of a professional crew. 

The voyage has been organised by Darwin200, an organisation which aims to ‘reconnect people across the planet with nature to build a more sustainable future’. 

Commenting on the voyage, Stewart McPherson, the founder and mission director of Darwin200 said: 

“Charles Darwin was only 22 when he set sail from Plymouth on his life-changing voyage famously saying that it was by far the most important event in his life, determining his whole career. We wanted to create a similarly transformative experience”.

Darwin’s five-year expedition saw him studying isolated populations of flora and fauna inhabiting remote islands. The eventual result of his studies was his seminal work, ‘On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’, which was first published in 1859.

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