BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?

Subject: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 10:05 PM

Well, that title should draw the maximum attention of Mudcat lurkers and regulars. Here's the scoop:

"Hunting the lost Beagle


By Jeremy Grange
Producer, Hunting the Beagle


Dr Robert Prescott intends to end the 140-year-long mystery
A muddy river bank in the flat, watery landscape of southern Essex may seem an unlikely place to find one of the most important ships in scientific history.

But a combination of painstaking detective work and archaeology have convinced maritime historian Dr Robert Prescott that the banks of the River Roach near the village of Paglesham are the last resting place of HMS Beagle.

The historic ship will be forever associated with Charles Darwin who served as its naturalist on her second great voyage between 1831 and 1836.

This journey sowed in Darwin's mind the seed of the ideas that would eventually become his theory of natural selection and revolutionise the way we look at the world and ourselves.
        

Dr Prescott, from the University of St Andrews, decided to find out what happened to the Beagle after she completed her third and final great voyage in 1843.

"The notion that there was this interesting ship which also had a very interesting connection with one of the major scientific developments in recent history was just too good to be true. I wanted to find out more," he told the BBC Radio 4 programme Hunting the Beagle.

Muddy grave


His first port of call was the Public Records Office in Kew where old naval documents are stored.

In the Admiralty Progress Book for 1845, he came across a few lines of handwriting revealing that after refurbishment at Woolwich Dockyard, the Beagle was transferred to the Coastguard at Paglesham for duty as an anti-smuggling watch vessel.

The maze of creeks and inlets between the River Roach and the River Crouch was a smuggler's paradise in the mid-19th Century and a carefully positioned watch vessel was a valuable weapon.

A document records the ship was decommissioned as a coastguard watch vessel, and sold off in 1870 to "Messrs Murray and Trainer".

HMS Beagle: It seems Darwin did not have "sea legs"

Dr Prescott believes this was probably an ad-hoc partnership of two local farmers who did not have any experience of ship-breaking and who would have salvaged what they could in difficult conditions.

"It would have been slippery, dangerous to work in and very difficult to dismantle," he explained.

"That's why I believe that the lower half of this vessel was probably abandoned and has slowly settled deeper and deeper into the mud," he added.

Tiny clues

Dr Prescott and a team of archaeologists discovered a structure buried which matches the size and shape of the Beagle, after using ground radar and other geophysical techniques at the Paglesham site.

He hopes that by the end of this year the ship will once again be brought to light after 140 years buried in the Essex mud.

Cores taken at the site have been examined for diatoms

But to find out if the timbers are indeed those of the Beagle, the ship's bilges are being tested for remains of tiny marine organisms called diatoms.

Certain species of diatom are specific to particular parts of the world and if the team could recover diatoms unique to the Pacific or Australian waters then the buried hulk had to be the Beagle.

The first set of cores taken at the site are being analysed using a scanning electron microscope by David Patterson, professor of marine ecology at the University of St Andrews.

The results so far have been very positive: the cores have brought to the surface diatoms and what appears to be Beagle's timber.

"It's very like a forensic investigation," Professor Patterson said. "If we can get one particularly well-recognised diatom species that we know to be tropical, that would be the 'killer's fingerprint'."

Queasy science

While the team at St Andrews has been searching for the killer fingerprint, Dr Prescott has been discovering what the most famous member of the Beagle's crew thought of the vessel that was his home for five long years.

Darwin's ideas have had a profound influence on scientific thinking

In later life, Charles Darwin acknowledged the importance of the ship in his life's work despite being plagued by seasickness during the voyage itself.

Professor Keith Thomson, author of HMS Beagle - The Story of Darwin's Ship, said: "When they were at sea, Darwin mostly lay in his hammock, seasick.

"I haven't been able to find a record of anyone else who, on a voyage of five years, was seasick from the very first day to the very last," he added.

But the fact Darwin suffered so badly throughout the voyage only makes his scientific achievements during that time all the more impressive."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: GUEST,winterbright
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 10:18 PM

Sorry his dog is missing. How sad.
Beagles do have a tendency to roam... but 140 years is a long time to be gone. Even for a beagle.
Maybe it's down by the bay. Beagle... bay... get it? Having its tail docked, perhaps?
Has anyone called the pound?
Oh, Charlie, there's gotta be a song here somewhere!

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 10:24 PM

How much is that Beagle in the quagmire?
The one with the diatom scales?
How much is that Beagle in the quagmire?
The one on which Darwin did ail?

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: GUEST,winterbright
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 10:27 PM

Is that 'diatom' or 'diatonic'?
Or are beagles 'pantatonic'?

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: catspaw49
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 10:30 PM

Interesting Charley.......The photo is remarkable and suggests the Beagle was well hidden and not wanting to be found.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 10:41 PM

Do you suppose it was chasing rabbits when it ended up there?

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: GUEST,winterbright
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 10:42 PM

Charlie,
Could this ship be perhaps.....

a barque???

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: GUEST,winterbright
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 10:48 PM

... probably ran aground in a howling gale!

'Niht 'night, everybody.

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 11:18 PM

Oh, dear!

Good night, everyone.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 11:25 PM

Thanks, Charley....it IS interesting, but ya know how this crowd is with such great straight lines being fed to them. **bg**

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: catspaw49
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 11:53 PM

Hey.....Beagles like to be fed too!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: Barry Finn
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 12:47 AM

Dr Robert Prescott got it backwards, the Beagle is supposed to be the one hunting him.

Nice find Charlie, my son is looking for the hare that bit the dog.

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: open mike
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 03:16 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagel

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:11 AM

The truth of the matter is that Darwin's Beagle encountered a cult of Dachshunds who converted the Beagle to their belief that one does not hunt for the sake of hunting, as Beagles are inclined to do, but rather that the entire goal of life is to EAT, and one hunts only for that purpose.

Being now too fat (in the manner typical of middle-aged Dachsies) to waddle, the Beagle is unable to return home, despite (being somewhat more intelligent than his found companions) questions about the suitablility of the Dachshund life-goals and manner of living.

While finding the Beagle would offer some hope of rescue and a return to life of normal Beagility, it is likely that any return from the cult would demand intensive re-programming, as the weinerists have had many years to wreak their cruel and invasive brainwashing on the poor critter.

As the article cited surmises, there probably isn't much (that's functional) left of the poor Beagle.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 11:14 AM

If you can't fight 'em, you might as well join 'em:

Here's to Darwin's Beagle,
The best there is by far;
Here's to Darwin's Beagle –
No moaning at the bar;
You can search this wide world over,
Find many a beer or ale,
But when you try Darwin's Beagle,
Your search will be curtailed!

The above being a reworking of my chorus to "Dead Dog Scrumpy."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 11:39 AM

there's a programme "In Search of Darwin's Beagle" (see first message on thread, not the silly stuff) on BBC radio 4 this week

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 11:58 AM

Being an inveterate nit-picker, I have to quibble with one part of the article Charlie Noble so nobly (HA!) posted.

Dr Prescott has been discovering what the most famous member of the Beagle's crew thought of the vessel

Yes, Darwin was surely the most famous person to sail in Beagle, but he was not a member of the crew. He was an uncompensated and nonpaying passenger, with no ship's duties. The captain permitted him on board to provide some company for the captain.

If he was as extremely and continuously seasick as we are led to believe, he couldn't have been such great company for anyone, and I wonder whether the captain felt he got his quid pro quo.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 12:07 PM

Good of you to point out the Dachshund link, John. I have always felt that one area where Darwin's theory falls way short and frankly becomes quite questionable is in regard to Dachshunds. If Darwin had had the good sense to have a Dachshund...or several Dachshunds...instead of a Beagle, that would not have occurred. If he had had a Weimaraner, needless to say, that would have just blown the whole thing entirely.

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 12:19 PM

I have a Weimaraner. If Darwin would have had a Weimaraner, he never would have gotten anything done.

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 12:54 PM

Uncle Dave-

Well nit and well picked!

Darwin was certainly not a member of the Beagle's crew, or pack if you prefer. And seasick passengers are seldom good company, other than being a source of amusement to those who no longer get seasick. "Heave away, me bully boys! Oh, beg your pardon, Mr. Darwin!"

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Darwin's Beagle Found?
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 01:42 PM

arf arf! It got my attention. This month's Scientific American is all about evolution and charles Darwin. Interesting. thanks, cn
hg