The team will identify 200 young naturalists from 200 countries to take part in separate legs of the journey. So far 50 between the ages of 18 and 25 have been selected.
The young conservationists, named Darwin leaders, will not sail, but will instead work on projects while the ship is docked, producing short films, written reports and essays on one of the thousands of species Darwin studied on his trip, while thinking of ways to better protect them.
British documentary maker and television geographer Stewart McPherson is behind the project.
Sailing 40,000 nautical miles spanning four continents, the route goes to every major port visited by Darwin and some extras, but does not cross the Indian Ocean. It will reach Sydney in November next year before going on to Hobart, with voyage legs ranging from a single day to an epic 48 days and 5300 nautical miles to Cape Horn.
From Chile’s glacial fjords to the tropical islands of Polynesia, the journey will enable some 640 sailors and adventure seekers to go to sea over 32 voyage legs as hands-on guest crew – 24 at a time, sailing, steering and navigating the ship alongside researchers.
Members of the public can book a berth on any of the legs, with prices ranging from €1450 to €8000 ($2400 to $13,400). Previous sailing experience is not a requirement, but a passion for adventure is a must.
Charles Darwin in 1878.Credit: Getty Images
Stewart said he wanted to create a transformative experience for members of the public and for the world’s brightest young environmentalists, who he believed would be future science and conservation leaders and catalysts to “change the future of planet Earth for the better”.
Darwin, who was 22 when he set sail, later called the Beagle voyage “by far the most important event in my life”. He filled dozens of notebooks with careful observations on animals, plants and geology, and collected thousands of specimens, which he crated and sent home for further study.
Two decades later, he would publish his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in the 1859 book, On the Origin of Species.
Unlike the sailors on HMS Beagle, those joining the Oosterschelde will be undertaking the voyage in comparative luxury. During Darwin’s voyage, 74 men were squeezed into hammocks in the 27.5 metre-long vessel.
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At 50 metres, this trip will have a one-third fewer crew members on board.
Dr Sarah Darwin, a researcher at Berlin’s Museum Fur Naturkunde and a patron of the journey, said her great-great-grandfather’s strongest legacy was the understanding that humans were as much a part of the natural world as any other species.
She said the project would create a community of conservationists who will be better equipped to protect habitats and species than if they tried as individuals.
“I always think it is very much worth reminding ourselves on a daily basis that humans and the rest of the living world share a common origin,” she said.
HMS Beagle on the shores of River Santa Cruz, Argentina.
“He [Darwin] was saying that 160 years ago, that we were related with all other nature. We’re not above it, we are part of nature.”
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