MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Re-sail of Darwin’s global travel calls in Falklands next November

Biologist Sarah Darwin great-great granddaughter of the investigator is travelling aboard Stad-Amsterdam

The international project “Beagle, on the Future of Species” a re-sail of Charles Darwin’s global travels which 150 years ago drastically changed the concepts of creation and evolution, but now geared to investigate the earth’s future is scheduled to call in the Falkland Islands next November

The project to celebrate Charles Darwin’s 200th birth year, and the 150th anniversary of his publication of “On the Origin of Species”, has been organized by VPRO, Dutch public broadcasting organization and includes a 35 chapter television series. The production: “Beagle: On the future of species” will invite audiences to think about the future and can science offer us sufficient answers to some of our most compelling questions: are we leaving behind an inhabitable world for future generations?

For the VPRO-expedition Darwin’s ship HMS Beagle is the Dutch flagged Clipper Stad Amsterdam, a beautiful three masts sailing vessel equipped with state of the art research equipment and lab which will be operated with renowned scientists from different disciplines. The ship also has a built-in TV studio from which parts of the series will be produced and broadcast.

World personalities, academics, experts from different disciplines will be sailing or collaborating at different stages with the remake of Darwin’s global travel, including his great-great-granddaughter and biologist Sarah Darwin.

The chapter on the Falklands will be done by Flemish presenter and biologist Dirk Draulans who will be speaking to Peter Nichols, biographer of Fitz Roy and author of the book “Evolution’s Captain”.

Beagle project scientists are also scheduled to visit the Falklands Fisheries Department which has important research programs on conservation in the South Atlantic. Stad Amsterdam will be arriving from Puerto Madryn and from the Falklands will sail to the Magellan Strait and Punta Arenas to begin the Pacific leg of the global expedition.

Stad Amsterdam left Plymouth at the beginning of the month and is currently somewhere between Tenerife and Cape Verde; it’s scheduled to call in Rio do Janeiro October 12; Montevideo October 23 and Buenos Aires, October 26.

The Beagle project has strong interactive components. All scientific findings made during the journey can be closely watched on VPRO’s Beagle website, and will be broadcast by both radio and television; personal journals and video logs about life on board will be made by the producers, the sailing crew, and by guests on board. These will be updated on a daily basis. The route of the entire voyage can be closely followed by viewers on the internet.