Admiral Robert FitzRoy is, unfortunately, remembered mostly today as a footnote to history: the captain of HMS Beagle when Charles Darwin went on his voyage of discover. Though at the time the greater light, FitzRoy has taken a back seat to the young naturalist he invited onboard ever since Darwin shook the world with his theory of evolution. FitzRoy would later step into the fiery debate over evolution on the opposing side to his naturalist, a torment that would play a role in his death.
But in the meteorological community, FitzRoy deserves a prominent place in the pantheon of bright lights during the days of the sciences true infancy. He is regarded in Great Britain as the "Grandfather of the weather service." I tell the "weather" story of FitzRoy elsewhere on this site (See FitzRoy of the Weather Service), and herein expand on other areas of the deep and wide story of FitzRoy. (For a full account, see the excellent biography FitzRoy by John and Mary Gribbin.)
The Early Years
Robert FitzRoy entered the world with impressive and noble blood lines. Tracing his line back to an illegitimate son born of King Charles II and Barbara Villiers in 1663. (The name FitzRoy, according to the Gibbons, is a traditional one bestowed on acknowledged illegitimate sons of the King.) Robert's ancestor, also named Robert, was the first Duke of Grafton and an able naval man who was Admiral on his father's ship the Grafton. As we move up the family tree, it is evident that the sea and intelligence are family traits that would lead to this particular Robert.
Robert FitzRoy's father Lord Charles studied at Cambridge University and rose to the rank of General in the British Army. Charles' second wife and Robert's mother Lady Frances Anne Stewart was also from an aristocratic family from Ireland with ties to England. (Fanny as she was known was the daughter of the first Marquis of Londonderry and the half-sister of Viscount Castlereagh.) Robert FitzRoy himself was born at the family estate Ampton Hall near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk on 5 July 1805.
When Robert was but 12, he entered the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth and the following year, joined the Royal Navy. FitzRoy showed his intelligence by completing the Naval College course with distinction, then achieving a perfect score on his naval examination — the first to do so. Robert FitzRoy was promoted to lieutenant on 7 September 1824, at the age of 19 and served aboard the frigate HMS Thetis. In 1828 Robert FitzRoy was appointed flag lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Waller Otway, aboard HMS Ganges. While serving Otway in Rio de Janeiro, FitzRoy would received his first command, one with ironic foreshadowing of FitzRoy's future life, and death.
HMS Beagle , under the command of Captain Pringle Stokes, and HMS Adventure, under Captain Philip Parker King had been conducting a hydrographic survey of Tierra del Fuego, when Pringle Stokes became deeply depressed, reportedly due to the loneliness he experienced under the naval protocols of the time, and shot himself. When Beagle returned to Rio, Otway appointed FitzRoy the temporary Captain of the Beagle on 15 December 1828. At 23, FitzRoy sailed out to complete the survey of Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. Two years later, Beagle returned to England having completed a very successful survey. The ship carried a few extra passengers back to England, five Fuegans that FitzRoy had brought on board.
FitzRoy's extraordinary survey work caught the eye of Francis Beaufort, then Hydrographer to the Admiralty, the same Admiral Sir Francis whose name lives on through the Beaufort wind scale. (For a biography of Beaufort, click here.) FitzRoy had promised to return the Fuegans home and was planning a return trip to Tierra del Fuego. Unable to find a posting on a Royal Navy ship headed there, he requested a leave of absence in order to charter a vessel for the trip. When Beaufort heard of this, he and FitzRoy's influential uncle the Duke of Grafton persuaded the Admiralty to again appoint Robert FitzRoy as captain of the Beagle for a second voyage of survey and discovery to South America. The Admiralty agreed and notified FitzRoy on 25 June 1831.
The Beagle
Robert FitzRoy spared no expense in fitting out the Beagle for this voyage. The ship was nearly rebuilt to his specification and was outfitted with the latest marine technology including lightning protection. Recalling Stokes' fate during Beagle 's previous voyage, FitzRoy was intent on taking someone he could socialize with and confide in. He asked Beaufort for recommendations in finding a suitable gentleman, one who would share his scientific interests and be a confidant. On the list of possible candidates was Charles Darwin. Robert FitzRoy would eventually select the young man who shared his interests in nature history and geology. He also included the five Fuegans, a missionary, an artist, and an instrument maker in the ship's compliment.
Beagle Cross Section from Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle.
The tale of the "Voyage of the Beagle " has been told many times, initially by FitzRoy. Darwin's account became his first great book and since that time, there have been many publications and web pages written about the voyage, so I won't dwell on the details here. But several aspects of the voyage relate to meteorology.
Beagle was a very well outfitted vessel for scientific exploration. It carried several theodolites, chronometers and various types of barometers, include a storm glass, a type of barometer whose liquid changed appearance with weather changes which FitzRoy would favour. At Beaufort's request, FitzRoy would employ Beaufort's wind scale in making wind observations during the voyage. He may also have used Beaufort's weather notation coding or a version of it but I cannot confirm or deny this. (Any help from readers would be appreciated.)
FitzRoy's logbook and voyage notes hold a great deal of weather-related information. Darwin also took extensive weather notes and observations that made their way into his diary.
Bad Weather Magellan Straits from Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle.
The Beagle set sail in December 1831 and returned from its successful voyage in October 1836 having circumnavigated the globe after the amain mission of charting South American waters. Despite negotiating some of the most hazardous waters of the world, the ship did not lose even a single spar. Astonishingly and a tribute to FitzRoy's abilities as a captain, only five members of the original crew had lost their lives during the voyage, and one, the purser, died of natural causes, i.e., old age.
HMS Beagle, Straits of Magellan from Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Darwin
For his work in surveying the Straits of Magellan and the coasts of South America, FitzRoy was awarded a gold medal by the Royal Geographical Society in 1837. During the voyage, the Admiralty officially elevated FitzRoy to the rank of Captain.
After the Beagle
Following the Beagle 's return, FitzRoy wrote his account of this voyage and the pervious Beagle survey. The narratives were completed and published in May 1839 and included masses of technical materials and observations on a wide range of topics. The report has been estimated to exceed half a million words in length.
Four years after returning home, FitzRoy was elected to Parliament in 1841 as a Conservative, representing Durham in the Commons. There he worked to improve conditions in the merchantile marine including the regulation of those who wished to be masters or chief mates in the merchant fleets. He also was appointed a Conservator of the River Mersey and carried out a survey of conditions on that commercially important river. Many thought FitzRoy would go far, perhaps a Cabinet post or President of the Board of Trade, and most certainly a knighthood. But none that was to be. In the Spring of 1843, FitzRoy life took an unexpected turn when he was offered the position of Governor of New Zealand, which he dutifully and enthusiastically accepted.
Unfortunately, FitzRoy's tenure as governor was a personal and political disaster. He openly opposed the often unscrupulous manner in which the settlers dealt with the natives and did so with the hand of an autocratic ship's captain and a compassionate moral sense. This made him very unpopular, and as a result the Colonial Office recalled FitzRoy in 1845. As the Gribbins point out in their biography, ironically FitzRoy was not recalled because of the citizens' petitions for his removal, nor any overall failing of his administration, but due to changing politics back home. With hindsight, we might well applaud FitzRoy for his governorship as he stood up for native rights.
For the next years of his life, FitzRoy returned to his interest in the sea and the navy. He foresaw that the future of the Royal Navy lay in steamships, and he desired another command. In July 1848, he was assigned to oversee the outfitting of a new naval frigate: HMS Arrogant. Arrogant was a hybrid, a sailing ship equipped with a screw propeller turned by a steam engine. When the ship was commissioned the following March, FitzRoy was appointed its captain and set sail on a shakedown cruise.
During this time, FitzRoy, however, fell into a "black dog" depression and resigned to settle his affairs and regain his health, according to his own accounts. But this was his last command. His hopes of another were dashed by the excess of captains for ships in the Royal Navy. But while this may have been unsettling for FitzRoy, it paved the way for his place in meteorological history.
Robert FitzRoy had remained in contact with his Beagle companion Charles Darwin for many years after the voyage returned to England, though they were never really close, even on board. In fact, Darwin was most surprised shortly after returning by the news that FitzRoy was about to marry a woman to whom he had been engaged for quite some time. FitzRoy had never spoken about being engaged nor his intended bride even once during the five-year voyage.
FitzRoy last visited Darwin's home in the Spring of 1857, but with the publication of Origin of Species, the friendship came to an abrupt and bitter end, causing FitzRoy "the acutest pain." A fundamentalist in his religious beliefs, FitzRoy felt betrayed by Darwin. FitzRoy had led the young naturalist to places and sights that opened Darwin's eyes to a different world view than FitzRoy. Despite dangerous and unknown waters, the violent weather of Cape Horn, and other marine dangers, FitzRoy had brought Darwin home safely. A less able captain may have sailed Darwin to a watery grave and left thoughts of evolution to others. And now, FitzRoy wished he had.
FitzRoy further felt that he had betrayed his Holy Father by allowing Darwin as his personal guest aboard his ship and therefore he, Robert, was personally to blame for the blasphemy. Darwin had acknowledged in his Introduction that he had begun this line of thinking while on board Beagle , thus FitzRoy was forever linked to the foul deed. (In one of many ironies, most only known FitzRoy today as "Darwin's Captain.")
Ironically, the day following FitzRoy's landmark paper on "British Storms" at the British Association meeting in June 1860, the second of two papers was presented supporting Darwin's theory. This paper ignited the legendary and passionate debate between "Darwin's Bulldog" Thomas Henry Huxley and the Bishop of Oxford Samuel Wilberforce. During the heated debate, Wilberforce uttered his infamous question to Huxley: "Is it on his grandfather's or grandmother's side that the ape ancestry comes in?".
During the debate, FitzRoy rose fervently in support of Wilberforce, heckling Huxley while brandishing his Bible and shouting "Here is the truth in here!" Reportedly, FitzRoy was escorted from the building.
The anguish over the Darwin affair, the concern over the attacks on his meteorological work that were occurring at this time, hearing of the tragic fate of the Fuegans, and the drive for perfection in his work soon took a great toll on FitzRoy's physical and mental health. He aged so rapidly his wife worried for his well-being. In a final tragic and ironic moment on the morning of 30 April 1865, Admiral Robert FitzRoy followed the paths of Captain Stokes and his uncle Lord Castlereagh, and, behind the locked door of his dressing room, took his life.
In his autobiography, Charles Darwin wrote of FitzRoy: "FitzRoy's character was a very singular one, with many noble features: he was devoted to his duty, generous to a fault, bold, determined, indomitably energetic, and an ardent friend to all under his sway."
His obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine accompanied that of Abraham Lincoln.
Learn More From These Relevant Books Chosen by The Weather Doctor
For More Weather Doctor articles, go to our Site Map.
I have recently added many of my lifetime collection of photographs and art works to an on-line shop where you can purchase notecards, posters, and greeting cards, etc. of my best images.
Robert FitzRoy entered the world with impressive and noble blood lines. Tracing his line back to an illegitimate son born of King Charles II and Barbara Villiers in 1663. (The name FitzRoy, according to the Gibbons, is a traditional one bestowed on acknowledged illegitimate sons of the King.) Robert's ancestor, also named Robert, was the first Duke of Grafton and an able naval man who was Admiral on his father's ship the Grafton. As we move up the family tree, it is evident that the sea and intelligence are family traits that would lead to this particular Robert.
