Recovery of the crew of HMS Challenger (August 1835)                                        HMS Blonde under Captain Fitzroy and the severely damaged schooner Carmen were anchored in the  Bay of Conception.  At Talcahuano a fearful stench of dead fish and animals and of decaying seaweed filled the air. Darwin and Fitzroy rode on to Conception to find not a house was left standing; instead the streets were merely lines of ruins. Many of the inhabitants were living in reed huts which had withstood the shock and which the poor were now renting to the rich at excessive prices.

Destruction of cathedral and houses at Conception.

The earthquake, the worst people could remember had run for 400 miles along the coast and had been accompanied by a series of the simultaneous eruption of a line of volcanoes. The devastation had been compounded by three succeeding tidal waves with ensuing death and destruction on a awesome scale. Word came that Challenger had been wrecked in a storm at Arauco nearly a hundred miles away. The ship's captain, Michael Seymour, was an old friend of Fitzroy who was determined to embark on the hazardous trip over land. FitzRoy left Talcahuano Harbor on June 21st with five horses and provisions. Mr. Usborne, Mr. Bennett and a few other crew members went too. There was the problem of finding the right tracks, there were rivers with deceptive currents, there was little food, and always the danger of attack from Indians. The horses grew tired, and Fitzroy was constantly obliged to sell the ones he had and buy fresh ones at exorbitant prices. One day they met a party of Chileans who gave alarming news that three thousand Indians had assembled and were expected to make an attack on the Chilean frontier; they had heard of the wreck and were actually on their way to to plunder the crew when by accident they came up against a friendly tribe of Indians, who drove them back. When the party finally reached the shipwrecked crew they found that all but two were alive. Many were sick and their provisions low. They had built themselves a fortified encampment some miles from the wreck, but a plague of mice had fallen on the tents and hundreds had to be killed every hour. The men were getting mutinous. At dawn the next day Fitzroy set off back to Conception to get help. Finally the men were got back to Coquimbo where a vessel was waiting to ship them back to England. Post Script: Alexander retired in 1867 with the rank of Captain. Fitzroy, Seymour, Sulivan and Wickham all became Admirals.  Fitzroy became Governor General of New Zealand before cutting his own throat. Source: Edited extracts from Darwin and the Beagle by Alan Moorhead. Hamish Hamilton 1978.             Drawing by J.C.Wickham