themselves Ed Heads, and regard their
hero as a free-spirited countercultural
icon and ecological pioneer. Their vi-
sion of Ricketts is almost entirely drawn
from Steinbeck’s writings about him.
“Every scientist needs a novelist to im-
mortalize him,” says Chase.
But Steinbeck’s immortality as a nov-
elist also owes a great deal to Ed Rick-
etts. He was the model for not only Doc
in Cannery Row, but several other fi c-
tional characters, including Jim Casy,
the preacher-turned-union organizer
in The Grapes of Wrath. Ricketts’ phil-
osophical ideas were also important.
Steinbeck always credited Ricketts as
the co-author of the Log from the Sea of
Cortez, and relied entirely on his notes
from the expedition, having taken none
of his own. When Ricketts died, Stein-
beck was living in New York. Devastat-
ed by the loss, he burned all the letters
that Ricketts had sent him. Years after-
ward, Steinbeck said, “He aches me like
a missing arm.”JOHN GREGG IS INBaja California on a
scouting mission. He wants to establish
a scientifi c laboratory and southern ter-
minus for the Western Flyer near the old
French mining town of Santa Rosalía.
“She’ll spend 26 weeks a year based in
Monterey,” he says. “The city is putting
in solar panels on the dock so the elec-
tric motor can charge its Tesla batteries.
For the rest of the year, she’ll go north to
Sitka and south to here. There’s a 70-mile
stretch of water north of Santa Rosalía
that’s never had a proper biological tran-
sect. That’s real science the Flyer can do.”
Doing real science is how Gregg hopes
to inspire the students on the boat.
“We’ll invite the older kids from un-
der-resourced community colleges,” he
said. “They don’t get to do any real re-
search, they don’t have access to boats,
and I like working with them. Out of a
hundred, you might inspire six to do
ocean science, and that would be great.”
Accompanying Gregg on this trip is
the Stanford marine biologist William
Gilly. A shambling bear of a man, he
probably knows more about squid than
anyone else alive, and has worked ex-
tensively in the Sea of Cortez. He has84 SMITHSONIAN.COM | September 2019800-324-4934 davidmorgan.com
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