Edinburgh, Scotland
As we sailed by Bass Rock on our way to Edinburgh this morning we were greeted by thousands of gannets on their morning fishing trip. After a very close look at Bass Rock we proceeded to the locks at Leith Docks, entrance to the port of Edinburgh. As soon as the ship was cleared by the authorities, we made a trip into the city for a visit to the Royal Museum and the Scottish National Museum. These paired museums present wonderful displays of ancient Celtic art and room after room of exhibits on the natural history of Scotland and the world beyond. From the museums we proceeded to Edinburgh Castle. The Castle was built on Castle Rock in the 11th century and today is a proud reminder of the magnificent history of the city and its people.
Castle rock itself is a volcanic plug, the remnant of a 350 million-year-old volcano, one of several that dominate the landscape of Edinburgh and East Lothian. They include Calton Hill, Bass Rock, the North Berwick Law and, most prominent, Arthur’s Seat. The view from the ramparts of the Castle shows the old volcano, as well as a younger sill of basalt, the Salisbury Crags, which display the same characteristic columnar structure that we saw at the Isle of Staffa four days ago. It was the observation of these volcanic rocks that led James Hutton, the father of modern geology, to conclude in 1788, since there are no active volcanoes in Scotland today, that these rocks must be very old indeed. Hutton is credited with originating the scientific form of the idea of “deep time” which led to a revolution in geology. 50 years later it also provided Charles Darwin with the time required for natural selection to produce the magnificent diversity of life on the planet. These ideas were born of the “Edinburgh Enlightenment” a time when Hutton’s close friends and colleagues included the philosopher David Hume, the economist Adam Smith, the chemist Joseph Black and the engineer James Watt. At the time, the late eighteenth century, there were more students at Edinburgh University that at Oxford and Cambridge combined.
Today Edinburgh retains the excitement and majesty that it had then, and we enjoyed our visit immensely. The final event of the day was a reception provided by Lindblad Expeditions on the Royal Yacht Britannia, which is today permanently moored adjacent to the pier occupied by Endeavour when we are in port.
