The role of the Royal Navy changed when the Napoleonic wars came to an end. After 25 years of almost continuous warfare the Navy found itself without an enemy. A period of comparative maritime tranquillity followed the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and little serious construction for the Royal Navy was undertaken until the revival of the French navy during the reign of Napoleon III. Charles Darwin circumnavigated the world aboard a small warship, HMS Beagle, during this relatively peaceful time at sea.
After the peace settlement of 1815 the Navy did not need powerful men-of-war such as HMS Victory with her 104 guns and crew of 850 men. However, the wartime British fleet had included large numbers of smaller ships. They were used for coastal defence, anti-piracy duties, intelligence gathering and communications work. One such class of ship was known as the 10-gun brig. These ships were 90 feet long, 24 foot in beam, 12 foot in draft and were armed with eight short-range and two long-range guns. The 10-gun brig was, in effect, a cross between a merchantman and a small warship. The first of the class, HMS Achates, was launched in 1808 and she showed that the class was useful in both peace and war. More than 100 10-gun brigs were built during the course of the next 30 years.
A 10-gun Big.
The 10-gun brig HMS Beagle was launched in 1820. She never saw active service. Her career as a survey ship began in 1826 with a voyage to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego under the command of Captain Parker King. She returned to Plymouth in 1830. At the end of 1831 she again sailed for South America under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy and she returned in 1836 after circumnavigating the world. Charles Darwin was aboard for the whole of this voyage as expedition naturalist. Her third and final voyage took place between 1837 and 1843 under Commander John Wickham and First Lieutenant John Stokes. During these years she made the first charts of large parts of the coasts of Australia. Both Wickham and Stokes had served aboard the Beagle during her previous voyage.
The Beagle was very thoroughly prepared for her survey work. Before her second voyage her deck was raised by 18 inches and her rig was converted from brig to barque by the addition of a mizzen mast. The mizzen made her more handy under sail and the raised deck increased the space below. Nevertheless, her crew lived under extremely cramped conditions. No fewer than 76 people were aboard her 90 foot hull when she sailed for South America in 1831.
HMS Beagle rigged as a barque.
The Beagle was retired from seagoing service after her return from her third voyage. For many years she was moored at Pagglesham on the River Roach in Essex as a floating office and depot for the Coast Guard Service. Few records exist of her later career but it is probable that she was broken up in about 1870. No part of her was saved and not so much as a splinter survives as a memento of the Beagle.
An interesting account of the career of HMS Beagle has been published by Keith Thomson.
The Beagle in Sydney Harbour in 1841
