Annals of Archaeology–Here, Doggie, Doggie: An Edinburgh scientist, after years of detective work, is “quietly confident” that he has located the buried hulk of Charles Darwin’s famous ship, HMS Beagle. Missing since 1870, the ship on which Darwin spent five years pondering the origin of species, was auctioned for scrap to a pair of local merchants on the Essex coast. No one knows what happened after that. But Robert Prescott of St. Andrews University tracked the Beagle to a long abandoned dock buried beneath the banks of the River Roach and used ground-penetrating radar to reveal the outlines of a ship similar in size to the Beagle lying under 12 feet of mud. ‘Most of the upper part of the ship may have gone, but we have the lower parts and hull, and who knows what remnants of Darwin’s trip may still lie down there,’ said Prescott. ‘That is why this ship is so intriguing.’. Let the excavation begin…



Darwin’s Beagle Found? (note to TWC photo dept.: it’s a ship, you idiots, a ship!, ed)