9. Charles Darwin’s Doubts, Part 2
Robert Darwin, Charles’ father, must have had little faith in his son’s abilities. In addition to calling the voyage of the HMS Beagle a “wild scheme,” he also assumed, according to his son’s letter to his brother, that they must have offered countless other people the position of naturalist before providing it to his son. This was a rather unkind assumption, as Charles had joined several societies of naturalists while at Cambridge, and did very well on his final examinations before graduating.
Robert further assumed that given so many people must have turned it down for them to resort to asking his son, something must have been fundamentally wrong with the vessel or the expedition. After these chief complaints, his other issues were the belief that his son would never settle down to a normal life after two years of travel, that the accommodations would be uncomfortable (Robert was a wealthy man and used to luxury), that it would be another career change for the young Charles, and that it would be “a useless undertaking.”
Thankfully, Darwin’s cheek paid off, and his uncle intervened on his behalf. His father being resigned to acceptance, Darwin embarked on the journey to the Galapagos Islands, and the rest is (natural) history.