Conrad Martens

sailed on HMS Beagle from 1833 and produced many wonderful sketches and watercolours. Cambridge University have just posted scans of his sketchbooks. Furrfu! has posted a tremendous painting of Adventure, the schooner bought by Commander FitzRoy to help with the surveying work that was Beagle's prime job on the 1831-36 voyage.

The Darwin Correspondence Project has a letter from Charles Darwin to his sister Caroline describing the purchase:

A great event has happened here in the history of the Beagle.— it is the purchase of a large Schooner 170 tuns, only 70 less than the Beagle: The Captain has bought it for himself, but intends writing to the Admiralty for men &c &c.—f8 Wickham will have the command; it will double our work, perhaps shorten our cruize, will carry water & provisions, & in the remote chance of fire or sticking on a Corall reef may save many of our lives.

(and a pretty horrendous gale around Cape Horn), full text here

Despite FitzRoy's on the spot judgement of of his situation, the Admiralty failed to support FitzRoy's decision to buy the Adventure and he was forced to sell her, also reported by Darwin in a letter home:

You will be sorry to hear, the Schooner, the Adventure is sold; the Captain received no sort of encouragement from the Admiralty & he found the expense so large a vessel so immense he determined at once to her up.

full text here.

Here at the Beagle Project we have mulled over an Adventure Project, too: while Beagle is away around the world, a replica Adventure could be continuing the evolution, Darwin and science education work around Britain (and if you haven't just click over and look at the picture, schooners have the lovliest lines of boats), but one thing at a time: got to get the Beagle underway first.