Voyage in the Beagle

In July 1977 a replica of HMS Beagle was chartered by the BBC for the filming of The Voyage of Charles Darwin and her mission was none less than to re-enact Darwin's voyage in tropical Brazil, Tierra del Fuego and the Galapagos Islands, some of the most remote and spectacular landscapes of the world. It follows, of course, the voyage of the Beagle captained by Fitzroy in 1831 - a voyage on which a youthful Charles Darwin took up the role of naturalist. Fitzroy's five year voyage was on a mission to survey and chart the South American coastline and take time measurements.

Author John Goldsmith was appointed to the Beagle as the chronicler of the process, and although he joined for a part of he expedition only (joining in Salvador, Brazil and departing in Ancud, Chile) he does a commendable job.

It is not a particularly serious book. It pokes fun and the crew, captain and especially the author, it shares the goings on behind the scene, the voyage of the ship, the misadventures on shore and the tangle with authorities.

Goldsmith is an author of fiction (although I have never read him before) and has no nautical background - which is obvious and he refers to his previous experience as ‘having demolished a valuable rowing-eight when acting as coxwain, (he) became suddenly incapable of remembering which tiller-rope you pulled to go left or right, and steered into a granite bridge'.

The crew were almost all amateurs, and volunteers. They all played the part of extra's in the period drama, and were a fairly amusing bunch, who remarkably all seemed to get on well with each other, although alcohol played a large part in that.

There is some good description of the work to covert the boat Marquis built in Valencia in 1917, and refitted and used in such period dramas as The Onedin Line and Poldark (the 1975 version) before the refit to match up with Beagle, which was carried out is a rush and therefore never completed to a standard required - engines in particular giving trouble at various times.

There is also good description of the places visited (in the journey before Goldsmith joined he provides a good outline, particularly of St Paul's Rocks (now called Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, Brazil), which I had never heard of, but comprised at that time of an uninhabited collection of islands, now a Brazilian naval base), which of course, was a stop on the original Beagle journey.

But for the largest part, the narrative covers the day to day goings-on onboard the ship, the crew, the weather, the interactions, the dramas of the voyage. The filming is covered only fairly briefly and primarily when Goldsmith was involved directly (as an extra), and is really just a collection of amusing anecdotes appended to the voyage route. There is a very brief summary of the remained of the Beagle's journey from the point Goldsmith left the ship, but it is a paragraph or two in length only, so primarily covering Brazil, Argentina, Tierra del Fuego and Chile.

An easy quick read, some average quality black and while photographs, some nice pen and ink drawings of the ship and helpful maps throughout.

3.5 stars, rounded down.