This Is Cool

The Beagle Project.

As described by the Times,

[T]he HMS Beagle Project Wales, a non-profit company, charitable status pending, has been founded by David Lort-Phillips, a Pembrokeshire farmer and social entrepreneur, and Peter McGrath, author and yachtmaster.

It aims to celebrate the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth in 2009 by building a full-scale replica of the Beagle at Milford Haven and sailing with a crew of some 30 young scientists and mariners in the wake of Beagle’s 1831-36 voyage. The project will be relying for the £3.3 million cost of the replica on donations from corporate sponsors and individuals.

After a shakedown cruise in British waters, the replica will begin her circumnavigation of the globe. Thereafter, she will take on a new lease of life as a sailing classroom and laboratory. She will have dedicated space for sampling and research — focusing on climate change and its impact on biodiversity and human society. She will provide a platform for experiments and fieldwork, which can be flashed from her cameras via a website to labs and classrooms the world over.

How great would it be to land a berth on this trip?

The article also talks about the irony of the fact that the Captain of the Beagle on Darwin's voyage, Robert Fitzroy, was a staunch creationist, unswayed by Darwin's evolutionary theories.

Perhaps it's the Palie in me, but I've never really felt that there is an inherent incompatibility between evolutionary theory and a belief in God as the ultimate architect of the Universe. In fact, it's always struck me as something of an apples and oranges comparison. Within the broader subject of Creation I see science as concerning itself with the mechanics of things, while through religion we meditate on the great Why? hovering behind it all. It's only when one side or the other claims a complete monopoly that problems arise.

Having said that, I now expect to be stoned by both sides......