Richard Keynes - Fossils, Finches and Fuegians - Charles Darwin’s Adventures and Discoveries on the Beagle

I was much interested by watching a large herd of Grampuses, which followed the ship for some time. They were about 15 feet in length, & generally rose together, cutting & splashing the water with great violence. In the distance some whales were seen blowing. All these have been the black whale. The Spermaceti is the sort which the Southern Whalers pursue.

The grampuses, which on this occasion were genuine ones, were probably a group of juvenile pilot whales, totally black in colour, with bulging foreheads full of sperm oil.

Four days later, Charles wrote:

A wonderful shoal of Porpoises, at least many hundreds in number, crossed the bows of our vessel. The whole sea in places was furrowed by them. They proceeded by jumps in which the whole body was exposed, & as hundreds thus cut the water it presented a most extraordinary spectacle. When the ship was running 9 knots these animals could with the greatest ease cross & recross our bows & then dash away right ahead, thus showing off to us their great strength & activity.

The Beagle sailed on in the variable weather characteristic of the entrance to the Rio Plata. Close to the mouth of the river on a particularly dirty night, the ship was surrounded by penguins and seals which made such curious noises that the Master reported to the First Lieutenant that he had heard cattle lowing on the shore. On the morning of 26 July, the Beagle ’s anchoring at Monte Video was, according to Charles, quickly followed by the arrival alongside of six heavily-armed boats from the frigate HMS Druid , containing forty marines and a hundred sailors. The frigate’s Captain Hamilton explained that the current military government had just seized four hundred horses belonging to a British subject, and that he aimed to provide sufficient visible support for the opposition party to bring about a restitution of the horses. * It seemed that such disputes were usually won without bloodshed by the side that succeeded in looking the stronger. This episode was an eye-opener for Charles on the vagaries of South American politics, but FitzRoy did not regard the incident as worthy of mention in his account of the day, merely recording that he was occupied with observations for his chronometers, and preparing for surveying the coasts south of the Rio Plata.

On the following morning, FitzRoy and Charles landed on Rat Island, where one of them took sights, while the other found, but did not preserve, a species of legless lizard known as a skink. On 28 July Charles visited the Mount, the little hill 450 feet high that dominated the district and gave Monte Video its name. He decided that the view from the summit was the most uninteresting that he had ever seen – like Cambridgeshire but without even any trees.

Two days later, FitzRoy got wind of the remains of some hydrographical information collected by Spain that was preserved in the archives of Buenos Aires, and on 2 August the Beagle sailed to the south bank of the Rio Plata in search of it. As explained by Charles, they had a disconcerting reception:

We certainly are a most unquiet ship; peace flies before our steps. On entering the outer roadstead, we passed a Buenos Ayres guard-ship. When abreast of her she fired an empty gun, we not understanding this sailed on, & in a few minutes another discharge was accompanied by the whistling of a shot over our rigging. Before she could get another gun ready we had passed her range. When we arrived at our anchorage, which is more than three miles distant from the landing place, two boats were lowered, & a large party started in order to stay some days in the city. Wickham went with us, & intended immediately going to Mr Fox, the English minister, to inform him of the insult offered to the British flag. When close to the shore, we were met by a Quarantine boat which said we must all return on board, to have our bill of health inspected, from fears of the Cholera. Nothing which we could say about being a man of war, having left England 7 months & lying in an open roadstead, had any effect. They said we ought to have waited for a boat from the guard-ship & that we must pull the whole distance back to the vessel, with the wind dead on end against us & a strong tide running in. During our absence, a boat had come with an officer whom the Captain soon dispatched with a message to his Commander to say ‘He was sorry he was not aware he was entering an uncivilized port, or he would have had his broardside ready for anwering his shot’. When our boats & the health one came alongside, the Captain immediately gave orders to get under weigh & return to M Video. At the same time sending to the Governor, through the Spanish officer, the same messuages [sic] which he had sent to the Guard-ship, adding that the case should be throughily [sic] investigated in other quarters. We then loaded & pointed all the guns on one broadside, & ran down close alongside the guard-ship. Hailed her & said that when we again entered the port, we would be prepared as at present & if she dared to fire a shot we would send our whole broardside into her rotten hulk. * We are now sailing quietly down the river. From M Video the Captain intends writing to Mr Fox & to the Admiral, so that they may take effective steps to prevent our Flag being again insulted in so unprovoked a manner.

The following day, after another tricky passage along the muddy and winding channel of the Rio Plata, with banks often marked by old wrecks – ‘it is an ill wind which blows nobody any good’ said Charles – the Beagle arrived at Monte Video after sunset, and the Captain immediately went on board the Druid . He returned with the news that the Druid would next morning sail for Buenos Aires, and demand an apology for the guard-ship’s conduct. Charles noted belligerently, ‘Oh I hope the Guard-ship will fire a gun at the frigate; if she does, it will be her last day above water.’

A fortnight later the Druid returned from Buenos Aires with a long apology from the government for the insult offered to the Beagle . The captain of the guard-ship had immediately been arrested, and it was left to the British Consul whether he should any longer retain his commission. It seemed nevertheless that the Argentinians had voiced some complaint against FitzRoy’s undiplomatic language, for reporting later to the Hydrographer in London on his conduct of the affair, FitzRoy wrote:

With reference to the expressions which have offended the Buenos Airean Government, I beg to inform you, and I request that you will make it known, if necessary, that I did not say, that ‘I should go to some other country where the government was more civilized’, but that my expression to the health officer was, ‘Say to your government that I shall return to a more civilized country where boats are sent more frequently than balls.’ In hailing the guard vessel I did not in any way allude to the government and my words to her commander were ‘If you dare to fire another shot at a British man-of-war you may expect to have your hulk sunk, and if you fire at this vessel, I will return a broadside for every shot!’. 67

In the meantime, further trouble of a different kind had arisen in Monte Video. On 5 August, Charles wrote in his journal:

This has been an eventful day in the history of the Beagle . At 10 oclock in the morning the Minister for the present military government came on board & begged for assistance against a serious insurrection of some black troops. Cap FitzRoy immediately went ashore to ascertain whether it was a party affair, or that the inhabitants were really in danger of having their houses ransacked. The head of the Police (Damas) has continued to power through both governments, & is considered as entirely neutral; being applied to, he gave it as his opinion that it would be doing a service to the state to land our force. Whilst this was going on ashore, the Americans landed their boats & occupied the Custom House. Immediately the Captain arrived at the mole, he made us the signal to hoist out & man our boats. In a very few minutes, the Yawl, Cutter, Whaleboat & Gig were ready with 52 men heavily armed with Muskets, Cutlasses & Pistols. After waiting some time on the pier Signor Dumas arrived & we marched to a central fort, the seat of government. During this time the insurgents had planted artillery to command some of the streets, but otherwise remained quiet. They had previously broken open the Prison & armed the prisoners. The chief cause of apprehension was owing to their being in possession of the citadel which contains all the ammunition. It is suspected that all this disturbance is owing to the mæneuvring of the former constitutional government. But the politicks of the place are quite unintelligible: it has always been said that the interests of the soldiers & the present government are identical, & now it would seem to be the reverse. Capt. FitzRoy would have nothing to do with all this: he would only remain to see that private property was not attacked. If the National band were not rank cowards, they might at once seize the citadel & finish the business; instead of this, they prefer protecting themselves in the fortress of St. Lucia. Whilst the different parties were trying to negociate matters, we remained at our station & amused ourselves by cooking beefsteaks in the Courtyard. At sun-set the boats were sent on board & one returned with warm clothing for the men to bivouac during the night. As I had a bad headache, I also came & remained on board. The few left in the Ship under the command of M rChaffers [the Master] have been the most busily engaged of the whole crew. They have triced up the Boarding netting, loaded & pointed the guns, & cleared for action. We are now at night in a high state of preparation so as to make the best defence possible, if the Beagle should be attacked. To obtain ammunition could be the only possible motive. 6 th. The boats have returned. Affairs in the city now more decidedly show a party spirit, & as the black troops are enclosed in the citadel by double the number of armed citizens, Capt FitzRoy deemed it advisable to withdraw his force. It is probable in a very short time the two adverse sides will come to an encounter under such circumstances. Capt FitzRoy being in possession of the central fort would have found it very difficult to have preserved his character of neutrality. There certainly is a great deal of pleasure in the excitement of this sort of work – quite sufficient to explain the reckless gayety with which sailors undertake even the most hazardous attacks. Yet as time flies, it is evil to waste so much in empty parade.