Almost 200 years ago, Charles Darwin set sail from Plymouth, UK, as a naturalist on HMS Beagle on an epic voyage that would prove pivotal in the development of his theories of evolution.
This week, the 105-year-old Dutch schooner Oosterschelde set sail from Plymouth on a two-year voyage to train and inspire a new generation of naturalists by tracing the voyage of HMS Beagle. On the 40,000 nautical mile voyage, the schooner will call at 32 ports around the globe and will serve as a floating laboratory on the sea and in port in the project called Darwin200. The project seeks to harness the legacy of Charles Darwin’s passion for natural history to engage worldwide audiences and advance global conservation.