One of the world's most enduring naval mysteries -- the fate of HMS Beagle, the ship that carried Charles Darwin round the world and led him to develop his theory of natural selection -- may finally have been solved.
Advanced ground-penetrating radar could have located the ship, which disappeared more than a century ago, near Potton Island in Essex, on the east coast of England. The discovery has been made by one of the world's leading marine archaeologists, Robert Prescott of St Andrews University, a founder of the Scottish Institute of Maritime Studies and who set up the Beagle Ship Research Group three years ago.
The discovery suggests that the bulk of the ship is intact and could be raised and restored.
Launched in 1820 at Woolwich Royal Dockyard on the Thames, the Beagle was one of the commonest class of warships built by the Navy. After several years' service, it was refitted as a hydrographic survey vessel and subsequently placed under the command of Robert Fitzroy.
The Beagle set off on its great journey, with Darwin on board, in 1831 and for five years carried out detailed surveying of the tip of South America and in the Galapagos islands. The young biologist, who later described the voyage as "the most important event in my life," noted local variations among the birds and animals he encountered.
From these observations, which he recorded in his tiny cabin on the Beagle, he developed his theory of natural selection, published in On the Origin of Species in 1859.
But the fate of the ship that was instrumental in the theory's development has been lost for more than a century. All that was known was that after its historic journey the Beagle passed into the service of the UK Customs and Excise and was used as an anti-smuggling patrol vessel along the Essex coast.
But detailed detective work by Prescott has since revealed that for many years the Beagle was moored in mid-stream on the River Roach, where it was perfectly placed to intercept smugglers.
Then, in 1870, records show that the Beagle was auctioned to local scrap merchants Murray and Trainer. After that, no records remain. But detailed archaeological studies have shown that on the north bank of the Roach, a small dock had been built around this time and this has been the focus of efforts by the St Andrews team.
"Essentially, we have found the outline of a dock that was long ago abandoned and filled in," Prescott said. "We think the Beagle, stripped of its superstructure, ended up in there."
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to