And now for 3 things you mightn’t know about Chuck:
- On his 25th birthday, Captain FitzRoy named a mountain in honour of Charles. Mt Darwin is the tallest mountain in Tierra del Fuego (in the Andes). And if that wasn’t enough, a year earlier FitzRoy had named an expanse of water next to the then unnamed Mt Darwin, the Darwin Sound, to commemorate Darwin’s quick wit and courage. He saved them all from being marooned when giant waves created from a mass of ice split from a glacier and loomed towards their boat.
- Darwin created a pros and cons list to help him determine if marriage was the right thing for him to pursue. Apparently it was, with one of the ‘pros’ for marriage ‘Object to be beloved and played with. Better than a dog anyhow’
- Taking the latter point into account, this may be why he decided to keep marriage within the family. He wedded his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood (as in the fine china manufacturer).