Darwin descendant sets sail

The great-great granddaughter of Shrewsbury's most famous son Charles Darwin joined a Hollywood A-lister, historians and scientists as she attempts to re-create his landmark voyage on HMS Beagle.

Sarah Darwin was among the crew, also featuring actor John Malkovich, which set sail from Plymouth yesterday – 178 years after Darwin left the port city to embark on a trip which inspired his ground-breaking theory of evolution.

Miss Darwin and Mr Malkovich, the star of films such as Con Air and Ripley's Game, will be filmed during the new voyage which will be filmed for a new series to be broadcast to millions on Dutch and Belgian television.

The expedition will take the crew across the Atlantic to Brazil and Patagonia, around Cape Horn and up the west coast of South America, from the Andes mountain range to the Galapagos Islands, across the Pacific to Australia and back to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope.

Jon King, Darwin co-ordinator for Shrewsbury, today said the trip would help raise awareness of the naturalist and his great work.

He said it was also fitting that Darwin's relative was also going on the voyage.

Mr King said: "It is worth remembering that Charles Darwin nearly didn't go on The Beagle as his father initially said no. It was only when his uncle intervened that his father Robert allowed him to go.

"It is an interesting crew they have got there for this trip but there is also a scientific element to this trip.

"Darwin made many observations during his years on HMS Beagle and it's now possible to retrace his steps and make comparisons about what is happening and what has changed since then."

The re-enactment has been planned by the Beagle Project and the crew left Plymouth on the clipper Stad Amsterdam at about 2pm yesterday, with an armada of boats accompanying her.

Professor Peter Burkill, of the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation, said his team would fit a continuous plankton recorder aboard the clipper to sample plankton from the upper layers of the ocean.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th year since publication of his world-changing book The Origin of Species.

By Russell Roberts