HMS Beagle’s dock given special status
Mud berth to be national monument
HERITAGE: The dock where Charles Darwin’s ship HMS Beagle spent its final days has been given protected status to help preserve it for the future.
The Beagle is thought to have been dismantled at a dock on the River Roach in Essex, and Historic England said experts had identified its outline on the mud flats.
THE DOCK where Charles Darwin’s ship HMS Beagle spent its final days has been given protected status to help preserve it for the future.
Darwin made the discoveries that led to the formulation of his theory of evolution while aboard the vessel. It is thought to have been dismantled at a dock on the River Roach near Paglesham in Essex, and Historic England said experts had identified its outline on the mud flats.
The submerged mud berth has now been designated as a scheduled monument by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of Historic England. Monuments are not graded but all are, by definition, considered to be of national importance.
Once a monument is scheduled, any works to it, with few exceptions, require scheduled monument consent from the Secretary of State. Nigel Huddleston, heritage minister, said: “The voyages of HMS Beagle had a transformative impact on the world and they began here on our shores two hundred years ago.
“As 2020 marks a special anniversary in the Beagle’s past, it is fitting that the significant site of its last days will be protected for the future.”
HMS Beagle was first launched from Woolwich Dockyard in 1820 and was the vessel on which Darwin made the observations necessary to develop his theory of natural selection. After circumnavigating the globe, the Beagle was refitted as a static watch vessel for the Coastguard in 1845, serving to curb smuggling until it was sold for scrap in 1870.
It is believed it may have been dismantled by whoever bought it.
Maritime archaeologists confirmed the location of the mud dock and a brick slope or “hard” using geophysical surveys and an aerial survey by drone.
The Rochford mud dock – a specifically cut mooring place in which a vessel rests on the bottom at low tide – was constructed sometime after 1847. Its outline, location and size matches the indentation of the riverbank recorded on early maps.
Duncan Wilson, Historic England chief executive, said: “This is a fascinating example of a rare piece of maritime history, linked to one of the world’s most famous ships.”