Thanks, blognotices

Thank you to southern seafarer for the comment about FitzRoy's descendents: we'd like as many descendents of the Beagle's crew as possible to be associated with the project and be guests aboard the replica HMS Beagle. 2009 is Darwin's 200th anniversary, so inevitably the spotlight will be on Charles Darwin. However, we at the Beagle Project will see that Commander Robert FitzRoy gets his share of credit. As a sailor, I am in awe of FitzRoy's courage in circumnavigating the world in a small ship without reliable charts, engines, GPS, toasty thermals and GoreTex waterproofs or long-range weather forecasts. His weather records of the voyage are extraordinary (text here) and later in his career he was appinted Meteorological Statist to the Board of Trade, and his small office grew to become the UK Meteorological Office which has become one of the leading meteorological bodies in the world. Descendents of the great man will be welcome across the gang plank of the descendent of the great ship he commanded any time.

Meanwhile, many thanks for the blog write ups about the Project to Sisu and Peak Energy. Scroll down in both cases.