7 Charles Darwin – In Australia
It was now time for the Beagle to cross the vast Pacific Ocean towards Australia. Until
now Darwin had spent more time on his expeditions around South America than he
had spent on the Beagle and this long voyage would remind him how he had never
gained his sea legs. Continuing to suffer from seasickness he wrote some advice to
would-be voyagers:
If a person suffer much from sea-sickness, let him weigh it heavily in the balance. I speak
from experience: it is no trifling evil, cured in a week ... it must be borne in mind how large
a proportion of the time, during a long voyage, is spent on the water, as compared to the
days in harbour. And what of the boasted glories of the illimitable ocean? A tedious waste,
a desert of water, as the Arabian calls it ... On a forlorn and weather-beaten coast, the scene
is indeed different, but the feelings partake more of horror than wild delight.With only his notes and his reading to keep him occupied while sailing across the
ocean, or ‘tedious waste’ as he described it, he had plenty of time to think of home
and loved ones from whom he had now been away for almost four years. Already a
year longer than previously planned and the Beagle was still only halfway around the
world. All on board were looking forward to Sydney and in their imagination saw it
as a little England and ‘their home away from home’. In writing to his sister, Darwin
said:
For the last year I have been wishing to return and have uttered my wishes in no gentle
murmurs; but now I feel inclined to keep up one steady growl from morning to night ...
there is no more geology, but plenty of sea-sickness ... I am looking forward with more
pleasure to seeing Sydney, than to any other part of the voyage – our stay there will be very
short, only a fortnight; I hope however to be able to take a ride some way into the country.
Darwin’s first view of Sydney was disappointing. As the Beagle approached Sydney
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