As a young man, Huxley went on a long voyage of discovery to the southern continents. He was Assistant to the Surgeon on the Royal Navy ship HMS "Rattlesnake". What he did was to collect sea animals, and study them. He went ashore in New Guinea and the eastern coast of Australia, to study the animals, and the native peoples. He fell in love with a girl in Sydney, Australia, and some years later they married and had children.