the Greenwich Meridian as measured by the Beagle’s chronometers should be exactly
twenty-four hours. The best of the chronometers exceeded this measurement by just
33 seconds, which is equivalent to 8.25 nautical miles (15.28 km). An impressive
result for a journey of tens of thousands of miles around the world and taking over
five years to complete.
Darwin returned to England as a committed Christian and still believing in the God
of Nature for when recalling the highlights of his voyage he writes:
Among the many scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity
the primeval forests undefaced by the hand of man; whether those of Brazil, where the
powers of life are predominant, or those of Tierra del Fuego, where death and decay prevail.
Both are temples filled with the varied productions of the God of Nature – no one can stand
in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of
his body.One of the Beagle’s chronometers, Thomas Earnshaw
number 506, British Museum92 Where Australia Collides with Asia
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