The marine watch associated with the expeditions of Charles Darwin

The upcoming British auction house Bonhams will sell a marine watch made in 1825. This is a marine watch mounted on the ship HMS Beagle on a trip to South America and the Galapagos Islands with the participation of naturalist, eminent geology, father of Charles Darwinism (1809 - 1882). Called WE Frodsham 2 , this timepiece is not only a historical demonstration, but also represents outstanding technological innovations nearly 200 years ago.

Essentially, a marine watch is a high-precision mechanical watch (now an electronic clock) placed in a box used to determine the position of a ship through longitude. With a special mechanical mechanism, the watch is placed on the movable joints to maintain horizontal position regardless of the ship's motion, thereby ensuring the highest accuracy.

The watch with the engraving of the artist WE Frodsham (1825).

Maritime watches are the result of a Longitude Act issued by the British parliament in July 1714 under Queen Anne's reign. At that time, the British parliament had won a prize of £ 20,000 (equivalent to £ 2.6 million today) to develop a device that could accurately measure longitude at sea. In 1730, John Harrison - a carpenter who lived in Yorkshire submitted his project and his fourth edition in 1761 was awarded this award. The invention of a maritime watch not only helped Britain establish a navy but also brought a commercial advantage, creating a dominant position in the oceans until the early 20th century.

The watch sold was one of 22 built on board HMS Beagle and the second built by watchmaker William Edward Frodsham in 1825. WE Frodsham was born in 1804 as the second son of a family. made a very famous heirloom watch in the UK. The watch is also the final product of WE Frodsham because after he completed it, he drowned in a swimming trip, at the age of 21. The watch was then not checked, but was sent directly to Greenwhich to participate in the maritime watch competition. With William's manipulation skills, the watch worked very well and it was bought by the British navy.

The watch itself also has a long and special service history. It appeared on the second voyage of the HMS Beagle survey ship, which lasted for five years (1831-1836) to South America and the Galapagos Islands with the participation of young scientist Charles Darwin. Later, it was used in the North American expedition (1843-1846) to establish the border between the US and Canada. In 1857, the watch continued to be used on the HMS Herald on a tour of Australia's coast. Throughout its history, the marine watch WE Frodsham 2 has served a total of 15 ships between 1831 and 1911. Finally, it was liquidated by the British navy. The watch of WE Frodsham is one of two ever used ships on HMS Beagle still exist today and is currently on display at the British museum.

Charles Darwin and the cruise on HMS Beagle

The reason why the watch is a historical proof is that it helped explore three important things when serving on the HMS Beagle. The first trip of HMS Beagle in 1826 - 1830 to survey the coast of South America helped establish a reliable directional coordinate chain on the globe. During this journey, many incidents occurred on the HMS Beagle. When the ship reached the southern end of the continent, located in the deserted waters of Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire), Captain Pringle Stokes killed himself with a gun due to a mental breakdown and command was handed back to the center. Mr. WG Skyring and then Lieutenant Robert Fitzroy. Under their direction, the ship continued its journey until 1830.

The second voyage of the ship HMS Beagle in 1831 - 1836 under the command of the later captain, Admiral Admiral Robert Fitzroy followed the first journey and then turned west along the South Pacific, toward to Galapagos Islands, New Zealands and Australia. To avoid a similar tragedy with Captain Pringle Stokes, Fitzroy recruited a "fellow gentleman" with scientific knowledge to help him document the geological features of the area and, more importantly, reduce the isolated that colleague Pringle Stokes encountered. Charles Darwin was chosen from a lot of candidates who had just graduated from college but he had to cover all the costs of the journey by the British navy who refused to sponsor a civilian scientist, not serving army like Darwin.

Picture of the young HMS Beagle and Charles Darwin

The ship reached the Galapagos Islands in September 1835 and here, Darwin was fascinated by the amazing nature of the islands with volcanic rocks and giant tortoises. This illustrates an important moment that changes the thoughts of modern science and theology and overturns the perception of creativeism that has been accepted for centuries.

Darwin's 5-year journey on board HMS Beagle became legendary after Darwin gave a thorough description of his experiences in the book "The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle" and later studies on The famous "On the Origin of Species" book was published in 1859. The book has disturbed the newly formed Church, affecting traditionalists and eventually causing reefs. cracked the relationship between Charles Darwin and Robert Fitzroy - a pious lamb.

The third trip of HMS Beagle in 1837 - 1843 under the command of John Wickham and John Stokes completed the coastal exploration of Australia and opened landmarks such as Darwin harbor and Fitzroy river.

Although owning such a rich history, the marine watch of WE Frodsham is sold quite "cheap" , with the price range ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 VND (1.08 to 1.8 billion VND). ). The watch will be sold on July 9 at New Bond Street, London, England.