ROBERT FITZROY (1847)

Naval officer, hydrographer and meteorologist who commanded the voyage of HMS "Beagle" which sailed around the world with Charles Darwin aboard as naturalist.

The voyage provided Darwin with much of the material on which he based his theory of evolution.

Fitzrey entered the Royal Navy in 1819 and after service in the Mediterranean and in South American waters received command of the 240-ton brig Beagle in 1828. He surveyed the South American coast around Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego returning to England in 1830.

on Dec. 27, 1831 Fitzroy sailed from Portsmouth in the Beagle with Darwin aboard. The expedition visited the Cape Verde Islands, the South American coast, the Strait of Magellan, the Galápagos Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, the Maldives and Mauritius before returnig to England on Oct, 2, 1836.

In 1839 Fitzroy published two volumes of Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty´s Ships Adventure and Beagle Between the Years 1826 and 1836, Describing Their Examination of the Southern Shores of South America and the Beagle´s Circumnavigation of the Globe. a third volume, popularly known as The Voyage of the Beagle was published by Darwin in 1839.

A member of Parliament for Durham (1841) Fitzroy became governor of New Zealand in 1843 but was recalled in 1845 largely bacause he contended that Maori land claims were as valid as those of the settlers.

He retired from active duty in 1850 but from 1854 devoted himself to meteorology.

He devised a storm warning system that was the prototype of the daily wealther forecast, invented a barometer and published The Weather Book (1863).

During mental turmoil he committed suicide.