Revell Authentic Kit H.M.S. Beagle Official Master Modeler Kit

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Y ou are bidding on a model kit from the 1960's by Revell. This is a Master Modelers kit H-330:298, a 1/96 scale of the ship that Charles Darwin sailed on. The box is in good condition, the contents are in sealed plastic. THERE ARE NO DIRECTIONS IN THIS KIT. That said, from what I have seen on the net the kit looks to be complete. It has a bobbin of black thread that would be used for rigging, the sails which are made of white plastic, the ship itself, and a cylindrical, soft something wrapped in brown paper. SEE PHOTOS. Ask questions. A good opportunity to own a vintage model, especially for the Master Modelers out there, who may not need directions. Revell does have a web site for support. A little history of the voyage : On the morning of 27 December 1831, H.M.S. Beagle, with a crew of seventy-three men, sailed out of Plymouth harbor under a calm easterly wind and drizzly rain. Darwin became seasick almost immediately and started to have second thoughts about the voyage. The Beagle arrived near Madeira Island, its first port-of-call, on 4 January 1832. Unfortunately a westerly squall prevented the ship from making port. Darwin took little notice of this turn of events, as he was too ill to even leave his cabin. Two days later the Beagle arrived at the port of Santa Cruz at Tenerife Island (where Darwin had formally planned to visit with his friend Ramsay). Just as they released anchor, a small boat from the Health Office came out to meet the Beagle and an officer informed Capt. FitzRoy that they were prevented from going ashore due to a cholera outbreak in England. The crew of the Beagle would have to wait out a quarantine period of twelve days. Capt. FitzRoy, eager that no time would be lost on their primary mission, gave orders for the ship to proceed to the Cape Verde Islands. Darwin was devastated at missing the chance to see the island of his dreams, and watched Tenerife fade off into the horizon. H.M.S. Beagle arrived at the Cape Verde Islands on 16 January and anchored at Porto Praya, on the island of Santiago (spelled St. Jago, in Darwin's narrative). Darwin went ashore with two officers and rode to the village of Ribeira Grande, a few miles east of Porto Praya, to visit some Spanish ruins there, and returned to Porto Praya the next morning. On another day Darwin headed for St. Domingo, but became lost along the way and ended up at the village of Fuentes before heading back to the Beagle. Darwin made detailed observations of a cuttle-fish that populated the tide pools around the island, and was fascinated by their ability to change colors. He wrote with much excitement to Revd. Henslow about his discovery of a strange animal that could change colors at will (later Darwin learned that this was already known to natural science). Darwin's Discovery: It was on Santiago that Darwin made his first curious discovery. He found a horizontal white band of shells within a cliff face along the shoreline of Porto Praya. The fact that this layer was forty-five feet above sea level raised some interesting questions for Darwin. - It was obvious that this layer of shells was at one time under the ocean. How did it end up forty-five feet above sea level? - Was it possible that small upward movements of the land raised the shell layer? More violent movements of the earth would have otherwise broken up the nearly horizontal line of shells. The arrangement of the shell layer appeared to support Lyell's theory of a world slowly changing over great periods of time, a novel concept in Darwin's day. This observation, and many others like it, would later lead Darwin to develop his own theory of raising continents and sinking ocean floors. The Beagle left Santiago on 7 February and sailed towards Brazil, stopping for one day St. Paul's rocks. The rocks were a hazard to passing ships and Capt. FitzRoy wanted to get an accurate chronometric reading on their location, so two boats were sent to examine the rocks amid the shark infested waters. Darwin went onsh... read more

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