#36414: — 08/19  at  08:01 AM

While searching for some major pirate booty, he mistakenly attacks the young Charles Darwin's Beagle and then leads his ragtag crew from the exotic Galapagos Islands to the fog-filled streets of Victorian London. There they encounter grisly murder, vanishing ladies, radioactive elephants, and the Holy Ghost himself. And that's not even the half of it.

#36417: arensb — 08/19  at  08:35 AM
I second the recommendation. There are precious few novels with Charles and Erasmus Darwin as major characters, and even fewer that involve pirates.

I think my favorite part was the way the villain discovers that the pirate in disguise isn't really a woman.

#36425: — 08/19  at  09:44 AM
Another great book about a non-fictional pirate:

The Prestons': A Pirate of Exquisite Mind, A biography of the pirate William Dampier.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/042520037X/qid=1124466111/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-6512490-0188612?v=glance&s=books

Darwin referred to Dampier's journal as an inspiration for his Galapagos investigations.

Arrr, ye mateys!

#36524: yami — 08/19  at  08:03 PM
Did my recommendation really do anything above and beyond the mere sight of the title?

#36552: arensb — 08/20  at  12:41 AM
That's weird. I ran this entry through the pirate filter, and it came out in Minnewegian.

Trackback: Pirates Tracked on: Ranger of the West (72.9.234.70) at 2005 08 21 15:40:43
Saw this post over at Pharyngula on the book The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists : A Novel.