Launched at a total cost of £7,803 (around £628,000 in today’s money), the HMS Beagle made its first voyage in 1820 from the Royal Dockland of Woolwich at the River Thames. Sadly, it didn’t go so well for the captain, who succumbed to depression and took his own life. The second voyage would be a great success: with Charles Darwin aboard, the crew set sail for South America before sailing around the world. It was during this trip that Darwin encountered a huge variety of plant and animal life, inspiring his theory of evolution by natural selection.