Robert FitzRoy joined the British Royal Navy at the tender age of 12. The year was 1819. FitzRoy who happened to be a descendant of King Charles II, passed the Lieutenant’s exam and became a commissioned officer seven years later. He was assigned to a 235-ton survey ship: The H.M.S. Beagle.

The first expedition of the Beagle to South America in 1828 was eventful. The Captain committed suicide and FitzRoy assumed command. But it was the second expedition in 1831 that would make the Beagle famous. FitzRoy was accompanied by a young naturalist named Charles Darwin. FitzRoy wrote two books chronicling the expedition.

FitzRoy would go on to have an illustrious naval, scientific and political career before committing suicide in 1865. His contribution to safety began in1854, when he became head of a new government department formed to collect and analyze data about weather at sea.

Bearing the title Meteorological Statist to the Board of Trade, FitzRoy developed a system to predict, or as FitzRoy described it, “forecast” the weather. The system involved the creation of 15 land stations that received telegraph transmissions from captains at sea. The data would then be coordinated and a forecast would be made. This provided captains advance warning of storms and saved the lives of countless seamen.

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