Collection National Maritime
Museum, Greenwich, London.
HMS Beagle: The Midshipman's Berth
painted by Augustus Earle about 1833 . Alexander Burns Usborne
has not yet been identified. Seated bottom right is Darwin's
assistant Syms Covington described in Beagle's books as
"Fiddler and Boy to the Poop Cabin". Behind in red
sits Jemmy Button, a "savage" exchanged in Tierra Del
Fuego for a pearl button and re-educated in England.
Notes from National Maritime museum: The setting below deck shows
the off-duty activities of young midshipmen and other men in
their mess cramped between decks. The layered effect of the
decking is accentuated by the companionways to the deck above
and below, by feet on the steps far left, a soldier's head
looking up through a hatch and a vertical anchor chain running
through the decks. On the far left a man shaving stares into a
propped-up mirror. In the foreground a writing slope rests on
the deck, together with a discarded jacket and sextant, while
behind a group of figures look on. A man in the foreground lies
on the deck working on mathematical calculations with a slate,
book and rule. Behind him a colleague sketches. Wearing a
jacket, and with his back to the viewer, he is overlooked as he
draws with paints. A paint box rests on the table with water and
mixing pots. This may be a self-portrait of Earle since the open
portfolio resting on the floor indicates the type of
topographical sketches which he made on his overseas journeys,
thus signifying the painting was completed after the artist's
return to England. Two of the figures look at a sketch of a
portrait by the artist. Another man in the group plays the
flute. The buckets hanging up to the right have the king's
monogram 'GR', presumably referring to George IV who reigned
from 1820-30. Behind, sailors pore over calculations or sketch,
and other seamen are depicted in a room beyond. In the far right
a group of older marines drink; one has his head in his hand
leaning over a bucket. In the centre to the right a cabin boy in
a red smock grinds coffee and further right a boy sits on the
floor holding a monkey on a lead. He has discarded his fiddle as
he chats to a companion. Behind them a sailor and marine
sergeant survey the scene. A sextant and telescope hang from a
beam. The uniforms belong to sailors and marines but are worn in
a variety of ways.
The closely observed painting perceives leisure time and its
potential for disruption, implied by the overall surveillance of
the marine officer in the back of the painting to the left. The
picture sits at the interface between control and disorder
implied by the monkey, the parrot who could unpredictably fly
off its perch, and the men drinking. Exhibited at the Royal
Academy in 1837.
