February 27, 2004

One century's trash, another's treasure.

There's been surprisingly little coverage about this bit of news:

Darwin's Beagle ship 'found' [launches in new window]

Given the extreme intensity of fights about evolution between conservatives and liberals, I would have expected this to spark more of a discussion. Posted by thinkum at February 27, 2004 04:26 PM

Comments

I like the idea of excavating the ship to see what is left behind from her travels. I think the folks so involved this particular debate are all too involved in defending or detracting The Passion of Christ at the moment. So this little modern miracle is hardly a blip on their radar.

If anyone ever finds themselves in the UK and has the time, I highly recommend the somewhat protracted drive over to St. Andrews. The drive is lovely and scenic and the town itself is not to be missed. Just try to avoid it when they are having one of their many golfing tournaments.

Posted by: catherine at February 27, 2004 06:28 PM

Hmm, good point about THE PASSION OF CHRIST, I hadn't considered it as a distraction.

I wonder, too, if the untimely demise of the Beagle 2 spacecraft on Mars might have derailed some nice potential publicity...

Posted by: Thinky at February 27, 2004 07:45 PM

I'm more interested in the fact that the people researching the boat are described as archaeologists. It's probably accurate, but isn't it a little creepy to think that the Victorians are so far back that investigating their remains is archaeology?

Posted by: PyeCat at February 28, 2004 12:50 AM

I dunno, archaeologists work on Civil War battlesites, don't they? The Victorian Era ran 1839-1901, right? So, we're only 35 years away from the two hundredth anniversary of the start of her reign. That's a fair chunk of time. For us Yankees, anyway.

Posted by: Thinky at February 28, 2004 01:12 AM

prepetual proselytizing is a lot of work.

Posted by: catherine at February 28, 2004 02:37 AM