Syms Covington
Encyclopedia
Cabin boy
A Cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain....
on HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which...
who became an assistant to Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
and was appointed as his personal servant in 1833, continuing in Darwin's service after the voyage until 1839. Originally named Simon Covington, he was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, the youngest child of Simon Covington V and Elizabeth Brown. After Covington's trip on the Beagle, he then emigrated to Australia and settled as a postmaster, marrying Eliza Twyford there.
Beagle voyage
When he was fifteen years old, Syms Covington became "fiddler & boy to Poop-cabin" on the second survey expedition of HMS BeagleSecond voyage of HMS Beagle
The second voyage of HMS Beagle, from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, under captain Robert FitzRoy who had taken over command of the ship on its first voyage after her previous captain committed suicide...
, which left England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on 27 December 1831 under the command of captain Robert FitzRoy
Robert FitzRoy
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy RN achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, and as a pioneering meteorologist who made accurate weather forecasting a reality...
.
Covington kept a journal of the voyage, and in September 1832 at Bahía Blanca
Bahía Blanca
Bahía Blanca is a city located in the south-west of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Atlantic Ocean, and seat of government of Bahía Blanca Partido. It has a population of 274,509 inhabitants according to the...
in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
he noted wildlife found there, including a find of rhea
Rhea (bird)
The rheas are ratites in the genus Rhea, native to South America. There are two existing species: the Greater or American Rhea and the Lesser or Darwin's Rhea. The genus name was given in 1752 by Paul Möhring and adopted as the English common name. Möhring's reason for choosing this name, from the...
eggs, and giant fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
bones of the megatherium
Megatherium
Megatherium was a genus of elephant-sized ground sloths endemic to Central America and South America that lived from the Pliocene through Pleistocene existing approximately...
which were collected and sent to England. It is not clear if he was assisting Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
with this work, but FitzRoy's later account suggests that both Darwin and Covington worked at excavating the fossils, and on November 3 Darwin arranged some clothing for Covington.
On 29 April 1833, Darwin and Covington landed and took up residence ashore at Maldonado, Uruguay
Maldonado, Uruguay
Maldonado is the capital of Maldonado Department of Uruguay. It is located on Route 39 and shares borders with Punta del Este to the south, Pinares - Las Delicias to the south and to the east and suburb La Sonrisa to the north. Together they all for a unified metropolitan area. East of the city...
, while the Beagle went elsewhere on survey work. After an excursion into the interior lasting twelve days, they spent several weeks at Maldonado preparing the collections to be sent back to England. In a letter home started on 22 May, Darwin told his father that he had decided to take Covington on as a servant –
He had been thinking about this for some time, but had not yet consulted the captain. In an addition to the letter, dated 6 July, Darwin announced that he had FitzRoy's agreement, and an unexpected saving –
As well as working as a servant and general amanuensis
Amanuensis
Amanuensis is a Latin word adopted in various languages, including English, for certain persons performing a function by hand, either writing down the words of another or performing manual labour...
, writing out Darwin's records of investigations, Covington became Darwin's assistant as a collector, hunter and taxidermist, In addition to his duties, Covington kept a personal journal regarding his impressions of the voyage. His journal includes accounts ranging from his daily mundane tasks to impressions of the lands and the people he encountered, and it provides an alternative perspective to supplement Darwin's Journal and Remarks, better known as The Voyage of the Beagle
The Voyage of the Beagle
The Voyage of the Beagle is a title commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks, bringing him considerable fame and respect...
.
Return, work for Darwin and emigration
After the Beagle returned in 1836, Covington became Darwin's manservant and continued in his duties as a general amanuensisAmanuensis
Amanuensis is a Latin word adopted in various languages, including English, for certain persons performing a function by hand, either writing down the words of another or performing manual labour...
. His own collection of bird specimens was invaluable in establishing the relationship of Darwin's Finches
Darwin's finches
Darwin's finches are a group of 14 or 15 species of passerine birds. It is still not clear which bird family they belong to, but they are not related to the true finches. They were first collected by Charles Darwin on the Galápagos Islands during the second voyage of the Beagle...
to each of the Galapagos Islands
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
as, unlike Darwin, he had taken care to label where each specimen had been taken.
Covington remained in Darwin's service until 25 February 1839. He decided to emigrate, and was given a personal reference from Darwin in a letter dated 29 May 1839.
Life in Australia
Records indicate that Covington landed in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1840, and he married Eliza Twyford who lived at Stroud
Stroud, New South Wales
Stroud is a small country town one hour north of Newcastle, New South Wales. It is part of the Great Lakes Council area. The major road through Stroud is the Bucketts Way...
, a small town in northern New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, although she had been born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1821. He was able to draw on his naval connections to find employment, and by 1843 was working as a clerk at the Sydney coal depot of the Australian Agricultural Company
Australian Agricultural Company
The Australian Agricultural Company is a company which serves to improve beef cattle production through responsible natural resource and land use...
. Around 1844 the family, with their first two sons, accepted the invitation of Captain Lloyd and moved to the South coast property at Pambula, New South Wales
Pambula, New South Wales
Pambula is a town in Bega Valley Shire on the far south coast of New South Wales, Australia south of Sydney via the Princes Highway. At the 2006 census, Pambula had a population of 1,146 people.-History:...
, which Lloyd had been given in lieu of a pension from the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
.
Covington continued to correspond with Darwin, who sent him a gift of a replacement ear-trumpet to help with Covington's increasing deafness. In response to Darwin's request for specimens, Covington and his eldest son collected a large number of barnacle
Barnacle
A barnacle is a type of arthropod belonging to infraclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive settings. They are sessile suspension feeders, and have...
s at nearby Twofold Bay
Twofold Bay
Twofold Bay is a bay on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, close to the border with Victoria. The bay has an area of about 30 square kilometres. Close to North Head is a conspicuous islet, Mewstone Rock. About five km south of the islet is Red Point which forms the southern headland of...
. Darwin's letter of 23 November 1850 expressed his delight at having just received the box, which included particularly unusual species. This contributed to the extensive studies of barnacles which established Darwin as a biologist.
Covington became Postmaster of Pambula in 1854, and managed an inn called the Forest Oak Inn built on the coast road above the floodplain where the first Pambula township had been repeatedly damaged by floods. His original inn was licensed in 1855, and the building which still stands was constructed on the same site about a year later. By 1848 he and his wife had eight children, six sons and two daughters. In 1861 Covington died of 'paralysis' at only 47 years old. The inn was then run by his widow, and later by her second husband Llewelyn Heaven. The license was taken over by John Behl around 1864, and the building became known as The Retreat in 1895. It has been used as a doctor's surgery and more recently as a Thai restaurant, and its red tin roof and double chimneys can still be seen beside a sharp bend of the main Coast Road.
Books discussing Covington
"The Journal of Syms Covington, Assistant to Charles Darwin Esq." was discussed by Jonathan Hodge and Gregory Radick in The Cambridge Companion to Darwin.In 1998, Australian author Roger McDonald
Roger McDonald
Roger McDonald is the author of seven novels, two works of non-fiction, and a number of other works....
published a novel based on Syms Covington's life and his work for Darwin, called Mr Darwin's Shooter
Mr Darwin's Shooter
Mr Darwin's Shooter is a 1998 novel by Roger McDonald. It describes the life of Syms Covington, manservant to Charles Darwin on the voyage of the Beagle....
.