The Nautilus - University of West Florida

The chambered nautilus represents perfection in nature, personal growth and the University's dedication to the environment. The founders sought an emblem appropriate to an institution that would incorporate and transmit the vast and accumulating knowledge and values particular to our culture. The first president of UWF, Dr. Harold Bryan Crosby, found inspiration for choosing the nautilus as the university's logo in the Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem, "The Chambered Nautilus."

"THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS"
This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sail the unshadowed main,--
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
And every chambered cell,
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed,--
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!

Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,
Child of the wandering sea,
Cast from her lap, forlorn!
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born
Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn;
While on mine ear it rings,
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:--

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

By Oliver Wendall Holmes (1809-94)

The Argonaut

In October 1967, students at the newly opened University of West Florida voted to select the school's mascot. Would competitors in the athletic arenas be known as the seahawks, the mariners, the marlins or the argonauts? Perhaps those students just liked the sound of the name, or perhaps they were wiser than their years, for the outcome gave birth to a prophesy and defined us forever. Their choice was the legendary Argonauts, the courageous Greek sailors who ventured across treacherous seas in search of the golden fleece. Remarkably, the history of UWF's athletic program has paralleled the story of those noble, ancient mariners. UWF's Argonauts have navigated through perilous waters and survived to reap the rewards. The journey is inspired and symbolic, like that of our namesake. The saga of the Argonaut is a voyage of excellence.