The French research schooner Tara, named for the plantation in Margaret Mitchell’s Georgia-based novel “Gone with the Wind,” will visit Savannah Jan. 20-26.

The ship studies climate change by gathering and analyzing plankton in different global regions. It left Paris via the Seine River in February 2009 and has been collecting specimens in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans as well as the Gulf of Mexico.

The Tara will gather plankton from Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary off Sapelo Island before entering Savannah. The mayor and City Council will host the ship’s crew at City Hall and Pascal Le Deunff, French consul general in Atlanta, will attend a reception in their honor Jan. 20.

While docked, the crew will host student groups from Bryan, Chatham and Effington counties and conduct seminars at Savannah State University and Skidaway Institute of Oceanography.

The crew will also hold public information sessions to discuss the Tara’s research.

After leaving Savannah the ship will visit New York before returning home, according to a news release from Atlanta’s French consulate.

Romain Troublé, secretary general of Paris-based parent organization Tara Expeditions, told GlobalAtlanta the ship is named after the fictional Clayton County plantation in Ms. Mitchell’s book.

The grandfather of Tara’s owner, Etienne Bourgois, was a fan of the 1939 film based on the novel and gave the name to his first ship in the 1950s. The current research schooner is the fifth vessel to carry the name.

Mr. Troublé, a cousin of Mr. Bourgois, said the ship was named Tara “in memory of the grandfather who gave us the sailing taste.”

Tara Expeditions is supported by the United Nations Programme for the Environment, the World Wildlife Fund, a number of governmental partners in France and Europe as well as fundraising organizations in France and the U.S.

Savannah is a destination port for ocean-oriented educational and diplomatic efforts. The city hosted Denmark’s “nautical ambassador,” the Danmark, a ship built in 1933 now used to train U.S. Navy and Coast Guard officers.

For more on the Danmark, read: Denmark’s ‘Nautical Ambassador’ Celebrated in Savannah.

For more on Tara Expeditions visit http://oceans.taraexpeditions.org. Track the Tara by GPS here. 

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