A fantastic relic of the famous voyage of HMS Beagle has just come to light. It is a watercolour from 1832 by the ship's artist, Augustus Earle, showing sailors bringing specimens to Darwin and Captain Fitzroy, complete with speech bubbles showing their remarks. It's full of little private jokes to amuse the crew, including Mr Wickham, the First Lieutenant, muttering about the mess on deck and Mr Bynoe, the surgeon, saying he'll have to look things up. I saw the report about it in the Daily Torygraph, but a better reproduction is on Sotheby's website of course Darwin, Charles--Earle, Augustus (attrib.) | lot | Sotheby's. It's up for sale on the 15th of December, estimate £50000 to £70000. I some rich and generous person will buy it and give it to English Heritage for display at Down House. Alan
