Customer Reviews

FitzRoy: The Remarkable Story of Darwin's Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast

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The figure of Fitzroy lurks in the background of the Darwin saga and it is actually quite refreshing to draw him out on this score, both because of the interest in his life and work on its own terms and also for the light it throws on Darwin's early explorations in biology. Fitzroy's achievements in weather forecasting are little known, and his contribution to Darwin's education no doubt proceeds indirectly from the context of disciplined and meticulous scientific work in the Beagle's prime mission.

The father of weather forecasts and explorer of South America. Robert FitzRoy will be remembered by me. This book tells us about a great British aristocrat who gave more than he took. I love Patrick O'Brian and this could have been his but it is real story about a real person. FitzRoy was a remarkable man who history has pushed back to the shadows and labeled Darwin's Captain. FitzRoy, whose family is descended from Charles II, becomes a beloved British Man-o-war Captain, explorer, politician and eventual Vice Admiral. Mr. Gribbin gives us a picture of one of the last explorers and scientific innovators who charts South America, tries to support native rights in New Zealand and gives the world weather forecasting, yet is forgotten. His end did not justify his life. He was an amazing man who deserved more. He was faithful to his family, his country and religion. A good man and a great read.

This work, by John and Mary Gribbin, combines a deep respect for Robert FitzRoy and his achievements with sound research. The end result is a book that is accessible to anyone with an interest in this complex and multi-faceted man.

Described by Charles Darwin as being 'A very extraordinary person', Robert FitzRoy served Britain as a naval captain (most famously as Captain of HMS Beagle), as a Governor of New Zealand, and in the field of weather forecasting.

While covering the voyages of HMS Beagle, this book provides information on FitzRoy's governorship of New Zealand as well as his achievements in weather forecasting. Along the way, we obtain glimpses of the struggle between a greater understanding of science and a deep innate religious conservatism. Robert FitzRoy tragically took his own life a few months before his 60th birthday.

A fascinating book about a fascinating man.

Highly recommended

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

If not for anything else he did in his life, this man should be remembered for setting up the first weather forecasting service in England during the middle nineteenth century. That he was the Captain of the "Beagle" when Charles Darwin sailed on it as 'naturalist'; is not half as important as he was the one who set in motion the random currents that caused Darwin to be on the ship for its' full five year plus voyage.

He was a remarkable man who because he was also humble and self-effacing never ended up getting the critical acclaim that his life's work demanded. His five year voyage on the "Beagle" resulted in the most detailed mapping of the South American continent from the Plate to Valpariso, and especially the area around Cape Horn and the Straits of Magellan. So detailed were his maps that they were used for over 100 years.

During the voyage, he also determined all of the meridians and set-up their places on maps by which other sailors were able to determine their place anywhere on the earth at any time. Later, he devised a system by which ships could be signaled at sea that a major storm was brewing created the "gale warning" system. His work on meteorology was the first to use telegraphy to coordinate the capture of weather statistics so that information could be printed in newspapers the same day. He also devised the first two day weather forecasting, including the coining of the word 'forecast'.

The story of his life and accomplishments is well written, and well documented, besides being entertainingly presented. Great Biography.

I got this book because I am playing Fitzroy in Timberlake Wertenbakers play After Darwin. It has a wealth of information on the good Captain and enabled me to find a pathway into his mind that would not have had otherwise. The combination of excepts from the Narrative, Sullivan and Usborne's journals, and the record of Darwin himself paint an honorable picture that Fitroy would have been happy with. The recounting of the loss of a ship to the Fuegians on the voage preceeding Darwin is particuary interesting.

This is a book that many readers have long awaited. References to Captain Fitzroy abound in many other biographies and in many history and seafaring books, and he has long fascinated me. There were some glimpses of Fitzroy in The Voyage of the Beagle, in the letters of Charles Darwin and in a recent book about Weather Forecasting (Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round the Shipping Forecast (Radio 4 Book of the Week)) by Charles Connolly where is was noted that after more than a hundred years the Captains work in creating Weather Maps was formally, if belatedly, recognized by renaming a forecast area in the Bay of Biscay as Fitzroy. But this life was needed to round-out the man, and John Gribbin has done exactly that, drawing a fuller picture of Darwin's Captain and his astonishing accomplishments as discover, seafarer and Governor of New Zealand. Fitzroy was a compassionate man, despite his `black moods' and when asked if he expected trouble from the New Zealanders on his appointment he is said to have replied; "Only the whites." In this he was right as his attempt to ensure fair treatment of the Maori infuriated many settlers and led to his recall.
He rounded out an impressive career by virtually inventing the (still regrettably unreliable science of Weather Forecasting and Weather Maps particularly for Naval safety. Descended from an illustrious family, including one of the English Kings he terminated his own life, as did his father, by locking himself in his bathroom and slitting his throat with his razor.
Gribbin has created a masterly account of this man of genius.

This book was interesting, but provided way to much detail. I had a hard time getting through it. However, I did learn a lot and was surprised by it. On the whole I was glad I read it, but would not recommend it to others.