EEPS0160, Fall 2025

EEPS0160. Monsters of the Abyss

Or, Oceanography and Sea Tales.

We will read from the logbooks of Cook, Darwin, Wallace, and Nansen. Their discoveries and expeditions inspired and were inspired by fiction that we will also read, including Moby Dick and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The daring successes and cannibalistic dooms of the Essex, Beagle, Terror, Challenger, and Fram inspired 19th century writers to imagine what lay far across and deep beneath the oceans. These retellings--fictional, narrative, and scientific--helped formulate and fund further research. Who risks their life for a bird, a map, a widow, or an eclipse? How would these scientists and their ideas do today? Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. First Year Seminar; Writing-Designated Course.

In 2025, we will have guest lectures/Q&A from Prof. Eric Hilt and Prof. Lukas Rieppel.

Web Resources and Texts

1. Paper writing guidelines, the Science of Scientific Writing
, and Orwell's Politics and the English Language
2. Peer reviewing guidelines.
3. Reading assignment guidelines.
4. Journaling guidelines.
5. Writing Center

Main Texts

1. Cook, The Three Voyages of Captain James Cook Round the World, Vol. 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3.
2. Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle
3. Darwin, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs
4. Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself
5. Franzen, 'Farther Away: “Robinson Crusoe,” David Foster Wallace, and the island of solitude.'
6. Melville, Moby Dick.
7. Mitchell, Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals
8. Nansen, Farthest North, Vol 1 and Vol 2.
9. Rush, First Passage and What Antarctica’s Disintegration Asks of Us.
10. Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
11. Wallace, The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise, A Narrative of Travel, with Studies of Man and Nature

Scientific Papers

1. Graham et al., 2022: Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era
2. Sheldon & Kerr, 1972: The Population Density of Monsters in Loch Ness
3. Witbaard et al., 2003: Copepods link quahog growth to climate
4. Cobb et al., 2003: El Niño/Southern Oscillation and tropical Pacific climate during the last millennium
5. Lebreton et al., 2017: Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic
6. Evans & Hammond, 2003: Monitoring cetaceans in European waters
7. Wallace, 1855: On the Law which has regulated the Introduction of New Species
8. Darwin, 1860: The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Recapitulation and Conclusion

Secondary Online Textbooks

1. Tomczak and Godfrey's Regional Oceanography: An Introduction
   Tomczak and Godfrey's nice descriptive textbook.
2. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), 2021: Physical Science Policymaker Summary, and Frequently Asked Questions

Websites

1. National Library of Australia: James Cook and his voyages
2. UN Ocean Atlas
3. National Geographic
4. NASA Earth Observatory
5. NOAA Interactive Global Bathymmetry
6. Cleon Teunissen's Rotation Physics
7. IPCC Home Site
8. US National Climate Assessment
9. MBARI Seafood Watch

Additional Fun Reading

Nonfiction

1. Amundsen, The North West Passage
2. Bowditch, The American Practical Navigator
3. FitzRoy, Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, Vol. I
4. Maury, 1860: The Physical Geography of the Sea and Its Meteorology
5. Sverdrup, New Land: Four Years in the Arctic Region
6. M'Clintock, The Voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas
7. Sides, 1,000 Days in the Ice, National Geographic

Fiction

1. Dana, Two Years Before the Mast
2. Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
3. Homer, The Odyssey
4. London, The Sea Wolf
5. Stevenson, Treasure Island

Brown Specific Guidelines

1. Disability Support Services
2. Academic & Student Conduct Codes, *Note* Prof. Fox-Kemper regards inappropriate cellphone and laptop use as disruptive behavior.
3. Academic Code