2 Pounds - Charles III HMS Beagle; Gold Proof

HMS Beagle made four voyages in total, but it is the second — departing Plymouth in December 1831 — that reshaped biological science. Darwin was not the ship's primary purpose; he sailed as an unpaid gentleman companion to Captain Robert FitzRoy, who feared the psychological isolation of command. The Admiralty's original mission was hydrographic survey of the South American coastline, work that consumed the bulk of five years at sea.

This is the first UK decimal coin to commemorate the Beagle under Charles III's effigy.