Trick question: Who was the naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Beagle?
Answer: Not Darwin, the official naturalist was the ship's surgeon, Robert McKormick, even though Darwin's efforts began to outstrip his collections, forcing McKormick to go home.
In those days, British naval tradition dictated that a captain have virtually no contact with anyone down the chain of command. These voyages lasting many years, with only a very limited contact by mail with friends and families, can exert a heavy psychological toll. The previous captain of Beagle had shot himself to death during his third year away from home. Darwin sailed on the Beagle as a companion to Captain Fitzroy since he had the right social standing.
Fitzroy believed in "god's design" while Darwin proposed a natural explanation for the perfection of organic structure. Discussions with Fitzroy while dining with him every day for five years, without being able to rebuke him, might have been more important than the finches of Galapagos in inspiring the materialistic and antitheistic tone of Darwin's philosophy and evolutionary theory. For five long years, one of the most brilliant men in recorded history kept his peace.
After the voyage, Fitzroy began to see himself as the unwitting agent of Darwin's heresy. He shot himself eventually.
Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould
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