What ship did Charles Darwin sail on during his five-year voyage?

Charles Darwin sailed on HMS Beagle during his five-year voyage. The ship's second voyage began on 27 December 1831 under Captain Robert FitzRoy and ended in October 1836, after surveying coastlines around South America and traveling across the Pacific and Indian oceans.

Darwin joined as a gentleman naturalist rather than as the ship's official surgeon or captain. While HMS Beagle charted coastlines, Darwin often spent extended periods ashore collecting specimens, studying geology, and recording plants and animals. These observations later became important evidence for his ideas about species and adaptation.

The voyage is often remembered as a single uninterrupted expedition, but Darwin's work took place across many locations, including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, the Galápagos Islands, New Zealand, and Australia. HMS Beagle was also a working survey vessel, not a ship built specifically to carry Darwin's scientific expedition.

A common mix-up is HMS Endeavour, the ship used by James Cook on his first Pacific voyage, and HMS Challenger, associated with the later Challenger expedition. Darwin's famous journey belongs specifically to HMS Beagle.