From Cuthbert Collingwood   15 February 1866

14 Gloucester Plac⁠⟨⁠e⁠⟩⁠ Greenwich S.⁠⟨⁠E.⁠⟩⁠

Feb 15/66

Dear Sir

I am shortly going out to the East in the capacity of Naturalist (unpaid) to the “Rifleman” surveying vessel, with my friend Capt J. W. Reed— We shall proceed overland to Hong Kong & first do some business among the reefs in the China sea,1 & I hope also to have opportunity of collecting among the islands of the East Indian Archipelago—2

I naturally recur to the “Journal of Researches” by yourself, & also to the problems held out for solution in the “Origin of species”, & I should be sorry to go without having first communicated with you—

I very much regret to hear from Dr. Hooker3 that your health is so very poor at present, & I can hardly hope for a personal interview with you, but should you wish to make any communication, or suggestion, I shall receive it with the greatest respect & pleasure, & shall indeed be very glad of any hint which your experience may enable you to give me—

My time is now limited—& although I could not move in the matter sooner, I find myself now within little more than a week of starting on my journey—

I shall have to run down to Liverpool for a few days to wind up my affairs there,4 & then I shall be able to devote the rest of my time to preparations for my voyage—

I am dear Sir | very truly yours | C. Collingwood

Chas Darwin Esq

CD annotations5

Head of letter: ‘Means of Distribution.— Domestic animals— greatly neglected   Gestures of Savages—’ added pencil
1
On the Admiralty’s requirement for a naturalist to join a survey in the China Sea in 1866, see the letter from J. D. Hooker, 4 February 1866 and n. 4. For Collingwood’s overland journey to Hong Kong, see Collingwood 1868, pp. 1–22. John William Reed was master in command of the surveying vessel HMS Rifleman in the China Sea (Navy list 1864–6); apparently Collingwood and Reed did not travel together (Collingwood 1868). In April 1866, Collingwood joined HMS Serpent at Hong Kong, under the command of Charles J. Bullock (Collingwood 1868, p. 22).
2
Collingwood wrote at least seventeen scientific papers based on his maritime and terrestrial observations in the China Sea and published between 1867 and 1869 (see Royal Society catalogue of scientific papers). He gave a general account of his journey in Collingwood 1868; there is a lightly annotated presentation copy in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 169).
4
Collingwood was lecturer in botany at the Royal Infirmary Medical School, Liverpool (DNB).
5
CD’s annotations relate to his letter to Collingwood of 16 February [1866].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5008,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5008