Plans to rebuild Darwin's ship HMS Beagle in Pembroke Dock

Have you read the February issue of Pembrokeshire Life?

It looks increasingly likely that a replica of HMS Beagle will be built in Pembroke Dock. The Beagle was made famous by Charles Darwin who conceived his theory of evolution during the Beagles' Voyage of Discovery in 1830.

John Lort Stokes of Haverfordwest was mate and assistant surveyor during that voyage and went on to command the Beagle until she went out of service in 1843.

"While people in Britain invariably associate the Beagle with Charles Darwin, in Australia they tend to associate the ship with Pembrokeshire's own John Lort Stokes."

"The role of the modern Beagle will be to recapture the spirit of adventure and discovery that her original crews experienced, despite their hardships", said David Lort Phillips of Lawrenny, a local co-ordinator of the Beagle project who shares an ancestor with Admiral Lort Stokes.

Anne Incledon