The second voyage of HMS Beagle (1831—1836) was a Royal Navy surveying expedition to chart the southern coasts of South America. Charles Darwin joined the voyage at the age of 22 as a naturalist companion to Captain Robert Fitzroy and Darwin’s father paid for his passage. Darwin’s Cambridge tutor John Stevens Henslow had recommended him not as a
‘…finished Naturalist, but as amply qualified for collecting, observing, & noting any thing worthy to be noted in Natural History.’
Letter from J. S. Henslow, 24 August 1831 View Letter
The voyage enabled Darwin’s career as a scientist through the observations and collections he made and the network of experts it introduced him to.