FitzRoy, Robert (1805-1865), was a British naval officer, meteorologist, and oceanographer. He was captain of the Beagle, the ship that carried the great British naturalist Charles Darwin around the world from 1831 to 1836 (see Darwin, Charles Robert ). FitzRoy surveyed the coast of South America and collected surveys of 82 coasts and 80 harbors. He served as colonial governor of New Zealand from December 1843 to November 1845. In 1855, he set up a weather forecasting service for the British government. FitzRoy was born on July 5, 1805, in the county of Suffolk, in England. He died on April 30, 1865, in Upper Norwood, London.
