Fitzroy by John and Mary Gribbin, Headline, £18.99, ISBN 0755311817 Evolution’s Captain by Peter Nichols, Profile, £16.99, ISBN 1861974515 Reviewed by Roy Herbert
ROBERT FITZROY, the captain of the Beagle, was a much more interesting man than Charles Darwin: more complicated, more passionate and driven so fiercely by principle that he could be said to have been destroyed by his own virtues.
The events of Fitzroy’s life are fairly well known. Before the voyage with Darwin, he had already commanded the ship on a first exploration of Tierra del Fuego and had even brought back four Fuegian “Indians”, who caused a passing sensation in Victorian society.…
