The Friends of Charles Darwin website

has evolved. Check it out sign yourself up and you too can be an FCD. As of tonight there were 422 members from 35 countries. Richard: 'And, relax.'

Science education is at the heart of the Beagle Project's

aims, so we're delighted to see the second issue of the science magazine for teachers Science in School on the web and in print. Published by the European Molecular Biological Laboratory at the University of Heidelberg, it aims to keep science teachers informed about latest developments in science, provide teaching materials and establish a much-needed link between the commercial or academic lab and the science classroom. It's well-produced and a good read.

This issue's topics include forensic entomology, asks if there are other earth-like planet out there and updates the tree of life - and idea pioneered by? Charles Darwin, in a quick sketch in the margin of one of his notebooks. And, close to our own project there's a feature on the Einstein, a boat that travelled the waterways of Germany with a cargo of interactive displays aimed at informing kids about Einstein's life and discoveries.

Go read.

Darwin Day: 12th February

Every year scientists throughout the world celebrate Charles Darwin's birthday: 12th February. There is a campaign to have 12th February declared Darwin Day in honour of the great man's achievements, and The Beagle Project Pembrokeshire is fully behind the aims of Darwin Day. In fact, we can think of no better day than 12th February 2009 as the launch date for our replica of HMS Beagle: 200 years to the day since the great man was born in Maer, Shropshire.

Check out the Darwin Day website. Don't just mentally blow out candles, get involved: ask your biology teacher, lecturer, local museum or library if they'll stage an event to mark the achievements of Charles Darwin, and if they won't, think about organizing one yourself. It could be a talk by a local biologist or historian, a display about Darwin's Voyage on HMS Beagle and his theory of evolution, a Darwin Memorial Beetling Walk in the countryside (that's what Darwin did while at Cambridge University) looking at beetles and other wildlife.

Don't let another 12th February go by without celebrating the life and achievements of one of the greatest scientists ever to live.

The Beagle Project on the BBC website

story here. The word is out: documentary makers (including the BBC), a major academic publisher and a film company have already contacted us, very interested in working with us.

Shortage of scientists threatens UK economy

according to the Confederation of British Industry. Read their original press release here and the Guardian report on the impending crisis here.

The Beagle Project doesn't pretend to be the solution, but we intend to be part of the solution, taking interested young people to sea to benefit from high-quality science tutoring, mentoring and engaging in research from the decks of a replica HMS Beagle.

Interest grows...

The BBC documentary department has contacted us asking for background, what we're planning and expressing tentative interest in making programmes about the replica HMS Beagle. Excellent: the BBC has a track record of making superb natural history programmes. We'll be taking a replica of HMS Beagle to some of the most spectacular places on earth (The Galapagos, South America, New Zealand, Australia), recreating the voyage that inspired the theory of natural selection and celebrating the life and achievements of Charles Darwin (founder of evolutionary biology) and Robert FitzRoy (founder of long-range maritime weather forecasting). Plenty for a documentary maker to get broadcasting teeth into there.

Information will be on its way to the BBC today, just as the technology allowing us to stream video footage from boat mid-ocean is maturing nicely, according to this story.

HMS Beagle off the Galapagos

Many thanks to Gordon Chancellor for permission to reproduce this John Chancellor painting of 'Beagle off the Galapagos'. © Rita Chancellor.

Beagle's lost anchors located?

In 1839 HMS Beagle was once again in Australia: while at anchor in Holdfast Reach, commander John Lort-Stokes found that the anchor was actually stuck fast. Rising wind and waves threatened to swamp Beagle, so commander John Lort-Stokes made the decision to cut the anchors free. This incident was recorded in Beagle's log and mentioned in Marsdern Hordern's book Mariners Are Warned:

"Extract from Beagle's log. Saturday 30th November 1839 4.30 a.m. Hove in to 30 fathoms small bower (anchor) .Finding it impossible to heave in any more.Slipt at the third shackle. Lost in consequence Anchors 9 cwt 25lb one in no. Chain cables 1,1/8" inch 37 1/2 fms. Anchor shackles 1.Joining shackles 2. Iron nun buoys one in no. small chain 3 fms. Rope cables 31/2 inches 15 fms."

In 1994 a survey found three magnetic anomalies in the mud at the approximate location, and now The Beagle Project has been contacted by John Canaris, who is proposing to mount an expedition to recover the anchors and put them on display and part of a wider exhibit about Darwin and HMS Beagle. The Beagle Project is planning to visit Australia as part of the restaging of the 1831-36 voyage, and would like to be able visit the Reach. Maybe the original bower anchor could one day be photographed alongside the Beagle replica.