PEMBROKESHIRE’s links to the ship which carried Charles Darwin on the voyage which inspired his theory of evolution have been highlighted following the discovery of a piece of the ship in Australia.

The anchor of HMS Beagle, the 19th century naval ship used to explore the far corners of the earth, was discovered by explorers on the bed of the Victoria River in Australia’s Northern Territory in October.

On board the ship for its three great voyages was Pembrokeshire-born John Lort Stokes, who served aboard the Beagle as a surveyor and was cabin-mate of Darwin during his time on board.

Now, distant relative of Lort Stokes, David Lort-Phillips of Lawrenny, is promoting this Pembrokeshire link to a ship which played a part in a scientific revolution which changed the way society thinks about the world.

Mr Lort-Phillips sees the Beagle’s crew as an example for today’s youngsters to follow if they are hoping for a career in science.

“For the Darwin voyage John Lort Stokes was 22 years old. All of the officers were under 30,” said Mr Lort-Phillips.

“From the point of view of using this as a parable for education, they were all very young.

“This is a parable for young people who are not so sure where they are going today.”

David Lort-Phillips of Lawrenny.

The Beagle’s second voyage began in 1831, and lasted five years, sailing across the Atlantic, around Tierra del Fuego in South America and on to the Galapagos islands before heading on to Tahiti and Australia.

In the Galapagos, Darwin he studied the variations in the islands finches, observations which were the inspiration for his book The Origin of Species in 1859.

Sharing a cabin with the natural philosopher was John Lort Stokes, the ship’s assistant surveyor, who was born and raised at Scotchwell House, near Haverfordwest.

Lort Stokes had also served on the Beagle as a midshipman during the ship’s first surveying expedition around the coast of South America.

But it was during the ship’s third voyage that the anchor which has now been found in Australian waters was lost.

In 1837, Lort Stokes joined the Beagle’s third voyage to circumnavigate Australia.

On this journey the crew set out to discover if theories of a huge inland body of water which let out into the Indian Ocean in the northwest of the continent were true.

The admiral John Lort Stokes, painted by Stephen Pearce circa 1879. PICTURE: Public Domain via Wikimedia.

During this voyage, they named a bay after their former shipmate Charles Darwin, an area which later became the capital city of the Northern Territory.

After the Beagle became stranded in the Victoria River, and the crew were forced to cut them loose.

After searching for years for the anchor, explorer John Canaris and his team unearthed it from the Victoria River’s bed this October.

Mr Lort Phillips is a founding member of the HMS Beagle Trust, an organisation which uses the story of the Beagle to inspire and teach children and young people about science and discovery.

“We aim to develop fresh plans in Australia, building on John Canaris’ valuable discovery, aiming to inspire individuals and institutions to help raise funds to enable that vision to be realised,” said Mr Lort-Phillips.

The trust’s ambition is to build a full-scale replica of the original Beagle which could be used for educational workshops.

“Thus, if successful, by 2020, exactly 200 years from the launching of the original HMS Beagle, we could see the keel being laid for a worthy successor.”

See hmsbeagleproject.org for information about the trust.