Page 1
The visual reference for the beached Great Ship was taken directly from a drawing of the Beagle by Conrad Martens. Martens was the replacement artist on the Beagle’s voyage, taking the place of the ailing Augustus Earle. Darwin apparently liked Martens quite a bit and shared his enthusiasm for the work they were doing. Martens eventually left the voyage in 1835 to settle in Australia
The original  illustration depicts repair work being done by the Beagle’s crew on the beach of some distant shore.  The copy I used for reference was from Janet Browne’s Charles Darwin: Voyaging. The drawing was originally commissioned for Narrative, Captain Robert Fitzroy’s 1839 travelogue of the Beagle’s voyage.

Pages 1-5 
I started my last book with a myth and here is another one. Color me formulaic. My wife, Lisa, would prefer that I just skip the myths and get on with the story, but I think they’re a great vehicle for understanding the way we try to make sense of the world. We will, much to Lisa’s chagrin, see more myths throughout this story. She still loves me, though, so I get to have my cake and eat it too.

Page 1
Darwin was the naturalist on the HMS Beagle for most of her five year voyage (1831-1836). He was originally hired on as a dinner for the ship’s captain, Robert Fitzroy, but became the full-time naturalist when the ship’s surgeon-naturalist, Robert McCormick, quit. 
Darwin’s voyage on the Beagle was the turning point in his life. Much to his father’s chagrin, Charles had failed as a physician and jumped at the opportunity to join the Beagle’s crew before finishing his work to become a clergyman. Dr. Robert Darwin was convinced that this trip would destroy his son’s chance at being well settled. He once told Charles, "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family." This probably wasn’t fair (and it certainly wasn’t an accurate prediction), but Charles did have a passion for collecting and shooting.  He would get the opportunity to do more than his share of both on the Beagle. 
One of the interesting elements of the voyage was its beginning. Or, to be more accurate, its three beginnings. The Beagle set sail on Dec 10th, 1831, but, it soon returned to port due to bad weather. Eleven days later, on the 21st, the weather was good enough to leave and so they did. And they promptly ran aground. After getting loose, they sailed out to sea, only to be turned back again the next morning by bad weather.  They finally got underway successfully on Dec 27th.
 

Page 2
Darwin had a couple of nicknames while on the Beagle. To his shipmates, he was "the dear old Philosopher," and many of the crew, who liked Darwin quite a bit, called him "our flycatcher."

Page 3
Since it was low tide when the Beagle ran aground on Dec 21st, the only way the crew could free the ship was to rock it loose by running back and forth along the deck. 

Pages 3-4
Darwin never seemed to grow very sturdy sea legs and spent much of his 5 years on the Beagle being seasick.

Page 4, last panel
Darwin’s iconic white beard did not actually appear until several decades after his trip on the Beagle. 

Page 5
Darwin collected crates and crates of plant, animal and fossil specimens from all over the world. Most were sent back to England, where they were analyzed by experts. The result was that Darwin’s work as a naturalist and collector of species helped him make a name for himself in English academic circles even before his return in 1836.
Did I mention that follicle mites don’t have eyes? Just checking.

Page 10
Emma Darwin was the daughter of Elizabeth and Josiah Wedgwood II and granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood I, the founder of Wedgwood china. She married Charles in 1839, three years after his return to England. By all accounts, they were deeply in love for the entirety of their 43 years of marriage. 
Their relationship is an interesting one because it is a microcosm for many of the cultural events swirling around the theory of Natural Selection. Emma was a devout Unitarian and was openly troubled by Charles’ theories. She wrote her husband two letters, one right after their marriage and the second in 1861, expressing her fears for his soul and the path in which his work was taking him. Darwin would refer to the first letter as Emma’s "beautiful letter." 
The anxiety his work caused his wife pained Darwin, but the evidence supporting his theory was more than he could ignore. Nevertheless, Emma was always there for Charles and he got nervous when they were separated. She was his constant companion and caregiver in his numerous cycles of illness. 

Page 10, panel 4
I have it in my notes for this story that Darwin used the same tea cup for most of his life. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find where I read that and it’s not the type of thing listed in an index. I will keep looking, so for now let’s say that is probable but unconfirmed.

Page 12, panel 3
Routine figured fairly prominently in Darwin’s daily life. Dinner was at 7:30 every night and was followed by two games of backgammon with Emma. Then Charles would read and listen to Emma play the piano. This is important to keep in mind when considering Emma’s comment on page 16 when Darwin says he’s going to the sandwalk. He didn’t usually go to the sandwalk until noon, and it was only 11 am. Would this deviation from schedule surprise Emma? I don’t know. But I had her comment on it just the same. His daily schedule is listed below:

7:45 Breakfast alone
8:00 - 9:30 work in study
9:30 - 10:30 he would read letters or listen as Emma read to him
10:30 ? Noon more work in study.
12:00 walk on the sandwalk
1:00 ? 3:00 Lunch, read the newspaper and reply to letters
3:00 ? 4:00 Charles would rest in his bedroom. Sometimes Emma would read to him
4:00 - -4:30 a short walk
4:30 - 5:30 more work in the study
7:30 Dinner, backgammon and piano
8:30 Bed
This schedule is courtesy of and © English Heritage   Written by Jennie Fordham, Education Officer, English Heritage Research by Caroline Overy, Research Assistant, The Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.

Page 12, panel 2
Darwin rested a lot. This was because his work exhausted him and he was often sick. The question of Charles’ health has been the subject of some debate. Was he the victim of congenital sickliness or was his ill health the result of the stress and strain of his work? Perhaps Darwin suffered from Chagas disease contracted on his Beagle voyage? Did his fear of the notoriety and controversy he knew his theory would generate in Victorian society make him a nervous wreck? 
Darwin’s mother was a sickly woman and died when Charles was just a boy. Darwin himself had ten children, three of whom died young. Several of the remaining seven were sickly themselves. So, it seems reasonable to assume that Charles was predisposed to being sickly. Was it Chagas disease? No one knows. But we can be fairly confident that his work was very stressful for him and would have only exacerbated his sickly tendencies.

Page 14, last panel
Darwin’s home was called Down House and was located in the village of Downe, Kent. The fireplace depicted here is the one in Darwin’s new study (as are the bookshelves and window on page 10). The new study was completed late in Darwin’s life and it was here that he finished his book on earthworms (note the jar he breaks on page 7). The study depicted in this story is currently the gift shop in Down House. The study on display at Down House is the old study where Darwin wrote The Origin of Species. So, when you see a picture of his study, you are probably seeing the old study, with its simpler fireplace and the big mirror on the mantle. Now you know.

Page 16
A number of historians point to Charles’ apparent fear of losing his mind. Though he seemed to be resigned to his body betraying him, he desperately feared losing his mental faculties. Fortunately, he was not crazy.
Polly was Emma and Charles’ daughter Henrietta’s white fox terrier and was a regular companion for Charles on the sandwalk.

Page 17, The sandwalk
The sandwalk was an invaluable refuge for Darwin and his thoughts. No matter the weather, he would walk the path at noon everyday. The sandwalk itself was across the home meadow from Down House on the Darwin estate (see figure next page). Though he used it the entire time he was at Down House, Darwin actually rented the sandwalk for 32 years (first from John I and later from his son John II). In 1874, Darwin bought it from the younger Lubbock, who asked a pretty penny for the little strip of land. Their friendship suffered for it. I have included a map of the grounds of Down House on the next page. It is taken from Figure 10 in the The Darwin Legend by James Moore and originally appeared in Hedley Atkin’s book Down, the Home of the Darwins.

Page 17, Water therapy
In the early 1840s, Darwin desperately sought relief from the mysterious illness that was afflicting him. Dr. James Gully’s Water Cure Establish-ment in Malvern came highly recommended by a number of people close to him. Darwin was suspicious of the notion and read Gully’s book. The therapy apparently involved dousing the patient in cold water to improve the circulation and draw the blood supply away from the inflamed nerves of the stomach.  Despite his initial reservations, Darwin became a true believer and dependent on the therapy. He was desperate several years later when a scandal threatened Dr. Gully’s practice. 

Page 19, panel 1
In the summer of 1855, Charles’ attention turned to pigeons.  He became a regular companion of breeders and pigeon fanciers. He bred pigeons, selecting for small variations each generation, and created numerous varieties. This artificial selection was a fundamental piece of supporting evidence for natural selection.  The first chapter of The Origin of the Species is called Variation Under Domestication. Pigeons figure prominently in the subsection Breeds of the Domestic Pigeon, their Differences and Origins.

Page 20, last panel
Here Mara asks the crucial question: How? This is the question that scientists ask. He couldn’t answer her earlier question, "Why do we exist?" because that’s a metaphysical question and consequently sits outside the realm of science. Just as the How of our existence sits outside the realm of metaphysics. We will explore this distinction to a limited degree in future chapters. 

Bibliography
Barlow, Nora (ed.) The Autobiography of Charles Darwin. W. W. Norton &
Compant 1969.
Barrett, Paul H. (ed.) The Collected Papers of Charles Darwin. The
University of Chicago Press 1977.
Bowlby, John. Charle Darwin, A New Life. W.W.Norton & Company, 1990.
Brown, Janet. Charles Darwin, Voyaging. Princeton University 1995.
Burkhardt, Frederick (ed.) Charles Darwin's Lettters, A Selection, Cambridge
University Press 1996.
Darwin, Charles. Voyage of the Beagle. Penguin Book 1989 (originally
published in 1839 by Henry Colburn).
___. The Origin of Species. The Modern Library Edition, 1993.
___. The Expressions of  the Emotions in Man and Animals. 3rd. ed Oxford
University Press,  1998.
Desmond, Adrian and Moore, James. Darwin, The Life of a Tormented
Evolutionist. W. W. Norton & Company 1991
Miller, Jonathan and Van Loon, Borin. Darwin for Beginners Pantheon Books
1982.
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Moorehead, Alan. Darwin and the Beagle. Harper & Row 1969.