Robert Ritzroy (aged 31).
When she sailed from Plymouth at the end of 1831 the crew of the Beagle consisted of 75 people. There were 16 officers and trainee officers aboard, 9 petty officers, 8 marines, 6 boys, 3 supernumeraries including Charles Darwin, 3 Fuegians and 30 sailors. All the members of the crew were volunteers.
Robert Ritzroy (aged 31).
The oldest man on the ship was a marine, John Burgess, who was 47 at departure. The oldest officer was John Wickham who was 33 while the commander Robert FitzRoy was 26. Darwin himself was 22. The voyage of the Beagle was a young man's expedition.
Three of the officers, Robert FitzRoy, Bartholomew Sullivan and John Stokes later became admirals. John Wickham and Philip King became prominent politicians in Australia, the assistant surgeon Benjamin Bynoe became and FRCS while the surgeon, Robert McCormick later became a well-known arctic explorer and author. The reputation that Darwin's work brought to him should not obscure the fact that the afterguard on the second voyage of the Beagle were a talented bunch in their own right.