HMS Beagle (Possibly) Found

With the Beagle 2 lander lost on Mars, good Beagle-related news has been lacking, until now. British paper The Observer is reporting that the original HMS Beagle, the ship Darwin travelled on during his famous voyage, may have been found. Marine archeologists believe they have found the ship, which has been resting at the bottom of some Essex marshes for the last century.

Comments

1 down, 1 to go.

[lostchicken]

Now we just need to find the other Beagle. Wouldn't it be great if we found that one at the bottom of some ocean?

Re:1 down, 1 to go.

[BCSEiny]

When I read this I thought someone found snoopy.

9 out of 10 readers' reactions

[J. Jacques]

"Hooray! Oh. Wait. Crap."

Other famous Beagles in the news

[joshua404]

Snoopy was found dead in a Vegas hotel room, at the bottom of the tub. CSI Gil Grissom suspects foul play as several small, yellow feathers were found at the scene.

Re:Other famous Beagles in the news

[s.d.]

CSI Gil Grissom suspects foul play as several small, yellow feathers were found at the scene.

You meant fowl play, right?

134 years to find

[TasosF]

...and it was on this planet.

Re:134 years to find

[Schemat1c]

I know, this is flaimbait, but I thought it was relevant to the general conversation for you liberal, anti-war zealots out there who actually believe the theory of evolution.

I have only one word for people who refuse to accept evolution.

Dinosaur.

Thank you. Good night.

Re:134 years to find

[theguru]

I never understood this attitude. Ok, the Bible is supposed to be God's word, but written through man. Man is stupid and doesn't have the capacity to understand the vastness of the universe, so God had to dumb a lot of things down.
GOD: "Ok, so there are these things called atoms.. they're really small and.."
MAN: "Wait ummm Lord. Did you say Adam?"
GOD: "Sigh.. ok, yeah. There was this guy named Adam..."

However...

[FarmerDave]

It's *still* not responding to signals.

I wonder...

[somethinghollow]

Apparently the ship has undergone some sort of specialization to allow it to be a marsh-submarine instead of its original function of water-floater. This is truly an acomplishment for Darwinian evolution.

Soon, I'm sure examples such as this will crop up all over, as ships start to pass on their abilities to survive under marshes to their offspring.

Evolutionist propaganda

[CausticWindow]

Any right thinking Christian in this country knows that the whole Beagle voyage was a scam. There was no Beagle, Darwin was a heretic ponce at best, 'evilution' (sick) is self masturbation by atheists.

There can only be one nation under God. And if gays are allowed to marry, we might start a backwards evolution into snails and other amoral beings.

Thank you, amen and God bless America, Christian science and the GOP.

Please, oh please...

[craw]

don't let James Cameron get anywhere close to this wreck! Don't give him any ideas!

Re:And this means what?

[p4ul13]

I was raised Christian (some of it stuck, most didn't); but one thing I can say with little reservation is that evolutionary theories have plenty of validity and yet they don't conflict in my mind with anything the Bible has to say about our own origins.

I'm not looking to start a theological debate here, but just make the statement that it bugs me when some of the more fundamentalist Christians outright oppose evolution in schools because they see it as a blasphemy. Same thing happened when folks were debating the planet being round or that it isn't the center of the galaxy.

I know your comments weren't on this extreme level at all, but it just made me think of others who have taken such stances.

Re:So what went wrong?

[Mdalek]

Hang on. If European engineering can produce something that will survive 150 years in Essex, landing a buggy on Mars should be peanuts in comparison. What went wrong?

Both were British made.

If it's really his ship...

[mr_resident]

How long before it will be able to walk out of the swamp on it's own?

*

this reminds me of a joke

[theMerovingian]

q: Why does the French Navy have glass-bottom boats?

a: So they can see the old French Navy

Re:So what went wrong?

[tobe]

They left it standing for a couple of days.. radio went, tires got nicked, seats were stripped, fairings and engine were scavenged and then the whole thing was set alight and sank 'cause the bricks it was jacked up on couldn't spread the weight well enough on that boggy ground..

Re:And this means what?

[dankney]

Let's not undervalue history.

What value did Ballard's discovery of the Titanic and Bismark have? They wouldn't have been nearly as important if they had been some anonymous freighter that sank during a storm, even though the technological achievement would have been identical.

These are ships with history -- with stories that we deem important, interesting, or compelling. The stories that we value as a culture (species?) are part of what define who and what we are.

The value of the Beagle's discovery is purely historic. And in defining it as important or unimportant, we define something about ourselves as individuals and a society.

Re:Oh yeah?

[sbennett]

What's sarcasm?

Sarcasm is when...oh, shit.

Re:They don't conflict...

[Tassach]

God is an asshole, or at least has a really sick sense of humor

Reading the Old Testament certianly leaves the non-believer with the impression that Yahweh has the attitudes and manners of a spoiled, sadistic child. Abraham & his son, Lot's wife, and Job (to name but a few) were all victims of his capricious and sadistic power games, and they were his loyal followers. Let's not even get into the genocide and torture inflicted by this "omnibenevolent" deity upon entire nations of his creations, nor the massacres and wholesale torture he encourages his followers to visit upon his disfavored creations.

Re:What the hell was...

[Tassach]

There you go trying to bring facts into it again. People don't want to be told the real facts, they want to be told pleasant lies which support their preconcieved notions.

If people were swayed by facts, or were even capable of recognizing them, superstition would have died centuries ago and most politicians would be unsuccessfully trying to sell used cars instead of feeding at the public trough.

Re:Too bad...

[Tassach]

Darwinism is a proper scientific theory because it has several key properies: it explains observable facts, can be used to predict future events, and can be proven false. Creationism is not a proper scientific theory because it has no predictive value and is not falsifiable.

You need to learn the difference between a theory, a hypothesis, and a fairy tale. You cannot pull any idea out of your ass and call it a theory -- until you have tested it and produced supporting experimental and/or observational evidence it's (at best) hypothesis.