FITZROY The Remarkable Story

The Remarkable Storyt of Darwin’s Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast. Robert FitzRoy’s contribution to science, exploration and humanity was never fully acknowledged in his lifetime. Nor were the half million hand-written words he transcribed about his survey work and voyages. Being the Captain of HMS Beagle which carried amongst its scientific crew the young, Charles Darwin, Fitzroy’s work, when published was dwarfed by the publication of Darwin’s ‘Origin of the Species’. It was as recently as 2002 that Fitroy was acknowledged for the invention and instigation of a weatherforcasting system – a system which at the time of its first presentation to British Parliament was received with laugher in the House. I purchased ‘Fitzroy’ by John and Mary Gribbin because I love tall ship adventures and I wanted to retrace a voyage I took to the nether regions on South America. I found ‘FitzRoy’ to be far more than a sea story. It is not only a well researched biography of a truly remarkable man, but a page-turning narrative of sailing and survey work in uncharted, inhospitable territories. ‘FitzRoy’ is an intriguing adventure and travelogue rolled into one.