Messing About In Sailboats

Plankton by Ruth Padel

The deck is dazzle, fish-stink, gauze-covered buckets.
Gelatinous ingots, rainbows of wet flinching amethyst
and flubbed, iridescent cream. All this
means he’s better; and working on a haul of lumpen light.

Polyps, plankton, jellyfish. Sea butterflies, the pteropods.
‘So low in the scale of nature, exquisite in their forms!
You wonder at so much beauty – created,
apparently, for such little purpose!’ They lower his creel

to blue pores of subtropical ocean. Wave-flicker, white
as a gun-flash over the blown heart of sapphire.
Peacock eyes, beaten and swollen,
tossing on lazuline steel.

This was written by Ruth Padel, a descendant of Charles Darwin. In commemoration of Darwin's bicentennial and the sequential of the Origin of Species, she has produced a book of poetry inspired by his writings - Darwin a life in poems.  Here is what she has to say about this poem in particular:

"This marks the moment when Charles Darwin began actually to enjoy the Beagle, rather than lying seasick on the captain’s sofa. It is January 1832, he is 22, heading south through the north Atlantic, and starting work as a naturalist. The key ideas come in obliquely: Darwin still believes in biblical creation, yet his own language is readying him to doubt it (apparently). The rhymes often see-saw between the inside and the end of lines (ocean/swollen). The lyric description is inextricable from the imagery. A translator pointed out to me that I often use double images, an image for an image (those rainbows and amethysts). I like mixing tones and registers, complex sensuous imagery, vernacular and direct speech."

Happy Darwin Day

200 years and counting. I don't seem to be evolving though! In fact I am going backwards. I just had a delicious banana. It's a matter of time before my knuckles start scraping the ground.

Check out my favorite Darwin web site and a very worthwhile initiative the Beagle Project.  Peter McGrath, one of project's founders is a skipper of tall ships and guest writer extraordinaire on my blog.

Happy Darwin day to you Pete!

Project Beagle in the Times

Project Beagle was written up today in the Times (the UK one):

In the wake of the Beagle

  Peter Davies              

               

From the all-too-modest service career of HMS Beagle, it could never have been   divined that she was destined to become one of the most famous ships ever to   sail the seven seas. Commissioned in 1820 as a ten-gun brig — a two-masted   square-rigger, and one of the lowlier forms of naval life — she never saw   action, and spent most of her first few years in reserve, moored and   unmanned.

In 1825 the pace of her life quickened, when she was adapted as a survey ship.   A third, fore-and-aft rigged, mast was added, turning her into a barque,   improving her looks and, more importantly, her seakeeping qualities.... Continued

Happy Darwin Day

It's Darwin's 198th Bithday! And that means it's 2 years till Project Beagle launches. Please give generously.

For the full skinny on Darwin Day skip on over to Project Beagle Blog. There are some strange things going down for the big man's anniversary.

Trivia Question: Which famous American was born on the same day?

More on the Beagle Project

A great post on Scienceblogs on the Beagle Project. What are you waiting for? Send them some money!

I first saw about this on Pharyngula the other day and I think it is a majestic idea! A group of Brits are trying to build a replica of HMS "Beagle" and, on the Darwin Bicentennial in 2009, sail around the world following the exact path Charles Darwin made on his historic voyage. Have scientists, journalists and, yes, bloggers, on board who will do research, take pictures and videos, and write their ship-logs for everyone to read (if a ship-log is on a blog, is it called shlog?). Stop at every port and promote evolution!

Most definitely take your time to check out their website and blog to learn more about the project.

They'll have wi-fi on the ship....More

Support the Beagle

Link: The Beagle Project Blog.

Whether you are an "evolutionist", "creationist" or "don't-have-a-strong-point-of-viewist", Charles Darwin's voyage in the Beagle to the Galapagos is one of the most important sailing voyages in history.

A British group Called Project Beagle aims to re-create the voyage of the Beagle by building a replica and sailing it to the Galapagos with a group of young students. They plan to do it in 2009, to celebrate the bicentennial of Darwin's birth.

You can keep tabs on them at their blog.

Most importantly you can donate to the fund through Peter McGrath's paypal account one of the organizers.

I have made a donation and if you feel as passionate about what they are trying to do as I do, I encourage you to make donation too. They need the help!

From the log of the Beagle

  MARCH 7th, 1835. -- We stayed three days at Concepcion, and then 
sailed for Valparaiso. The wind being northerly, we only reached the 
mouth of the harbour of Concepcion before it was dark. Being very 
near the land, and a fog coming on, the anchor was dropped. Presently 
a large American whaler appeared alongside of us; and we heard the 
Yankee swearing at his men to keep quiet, whilst he listened for the 
breakers. Captain Fitz Roy hailed him, in a loud clear voice, to 
anchor where he then was. The poor man must have thought the voice 
came from the shore: such a Babel of cries issued at once from the 
ship -- every one hallooing out, "Let go the anchor! veer cable! 
shorten sail!" It was the most laughable thing I ever heard. If the 
ship's crew had been all captains, and no men, there could not have 
been a greater uproar of orders. We afterwards found that the mate 
stuttered: I suppose all hands were assisting him in giving his 
orders."

Courtesy of Peter McGrath from Project Beagle