Darwin's Beagle ship replica plan [for his 200th birthday]

BBC News ^ | 19 July 2006 | Staff

[PatrickHenry]

Plans are being drawn up to build a £3.3m working replica of the boat that took Charles Darwin around the world at Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire.

Fundraising for the project, which would mark the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth in 2009, is under way.

The aim is to built a seaworthy vessel identical to the HMS Beagle on the outside, but with a modern interior.

Darwin, who showed how natural selection could explain evolution, sailed on the Beagle between 1831-36.

Sitting opposite him on the expedition was mate and surveyor John Lort Stokes.

One of Stokes' descendents, Pembrokeshire farmer David Lort Philips, together with commercial yacht master Peter McGrath, have founded the Beagle Project Pembrokeshire.

Mr McGrath said the ship would look identical to the original Beagle on the outside but would have a 21st century interior with diesel auxiliary engines and generators.

Charles Darwin developed his early theories on board the Beagle

He said he hoped the fished vessel would inspire the scientists of the future and be used by researchers and scientists from across the world.

"Externally it will be exactly the same but we want it to do some serious scientific work and you would not want the crew living like they did in the 18th Century," he said.

The pair have spent three years putting their plans together and aim to raise the money through private and institutional investors along with public subscription.

"With all the Darwin 200 celebrations there is not one big project to focus the attention on," added Mr McGrath.

"I know the effect a square rigger has on young people - it's a jaw dropping site.

"But we do not want this just to be a replica - we want it to have genuine scientific benefits.

"We have started the fundraising. Construction will take 14 months and it has to be finished by early 2009.

"She will be built in Milford Haven and it will be her home. But what we want to do when she is built is visit the significant sights in Darwin's and the Beagle's life."

Researchers believe the original remains of the 27m-long Navy brig, that was sold for scrap in 1870, are embedded in a marsh near Potton Island in Essex.

Darwin, who published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859, came fourth in a poll run by the BBC in 2002 to find the public's greatest Briton of all time.

His voyage on the Beagle allowed him to form the basis for much of his later work.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Thank you.

Agreement in the conventions of language is widespread. Yet it is just because we widely (or generally) agree that subtle lies may be introduced where one thing is said and yet another thing is meant, with the result being a powerful delusion. That is why we react so strongly to half-truths when published by mass media.

The biblical texts do not lend themselves to sophistry. The message of the biblical texts is not corrupt, but the potential for its corruption resides in its hearers. Agreement in the meaning and content of the biblical texts is the work of the Holy Spirit, not people, just as the Church itself is a creation of God, not people.

[Dimensio]

So, when you use a phone book, you think to yourself first: "I am going to accept this information as true because the people who provided it have a vested interest in accuracy." I don't think so.

I would not trust a phone book put out by a company with a history of inaccuracies. I still do not see how this relates to the discussion.

s for ignoring your previous questions, I've been answering them steadily over the past few days. Why do you keep asking the same questions over and over? Where have you been?

You have not answered my questions. I have repeatedly asked you to present a justified falsification criteria for what you call "intelligent design". You have thus far only claimed "matter disintegratng into chaos" but you have not only refused to explain why such an observation would falsify intelligent design -- meaning that it is not justified -- but you even admitted that such an observation would not necessarily mean that "intelligent design" is false, meaning that you have not really answered the question as to what would hypothetically falsify your claim -- a requirement of all scientific claims. You have also not justified your claim that "it is not the nature of non-intelligence and non design to produce intelligible or purposeful matter and functions." You referred to "direct observation and experience" but you have not substantiated this assertion.

[Fishman Jack]

Dixie:

Now that you have been thoroughly schooled in Darwin's personality I will add a couple of other thing that I think you will find interesting. FitzRoy and Darwin got off on the wrong foot just as the voyage was to begin. FitzRoy gave the ship's crew Christmas Eve off and were expected to be ready to sail on Christmas Day. The crew reported back to the ship drunk and/or hungover so FitzRoy had them flogged. This distressed Darwin greatly; such cruelty was unknown to him.

Darwin seems to have been unaware that he was from a relatively well-to-do family until he was about 22 years old when he discovered some family papers that revealed the family's financial standing.

I am at a loss to understand the seeming hostility you exhibit to such a great scientist. Care to explain?

JFK

[Dixie Yooper]

After 2-1/2 years since making these comments, I still haven't taken my family to Lawrence Welk’s birthplace. Funny how times fly...Happy 3 New Years!