page_title: HMS Beagle
section_title: Third voyage (1837–1843)
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Beagle / Third voyage (1837–1843)
caption_attribution_description: (centre) painted during the third voyage while surveying Australia.
context_page_description: HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class ship of the Royal Navy. It was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames. It is best known for a voyage that carried Charles Darwin.
context_section_description: In 1837, Beagle went to survey the coast of Australia. Commander John Clements Wickham was in charge. They started with the western coast between the Swan River (modern Perth, Australia) and the Fitzroy River. They then surveyed both shores of the Bass Strait. In May 1839 they sailed north to survey the shores of the Arafura Sea opposite Timor. This voyage ended in 1843.
  Many places around the coast were named on this voyage. Many of the places were named for important people or members of the crew. Wickham named Port Darwin in honour of Charles Darwin. A settlement there became the town of Palmerston in 1869, and was renamed Darwin in 1911.
  During this survey, the Beagle Gulf was named after the ship.
caption: In 1837 HMS Beagle set off on a survey of Australia, shown here in an 1841 watercolour by Owen Stanley.
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