Evolution's Captain: The Dark Fate of the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World

When I was a kid I lived in the city of Punta Arenas (Chile), in a neighbourhood known as Fitzroy. I didn't know much about this name until I read "The voyage of the Beagle" by Darwin a few years ago, and truth is the book really made an impression on me. But I was eager also to know more about captain Robert Fitzroy and especially the years he spent in the southest part of my country, surveying all the islands and having contact with the natives of this zone, either Yaghan, Ona or Alacalufe. The life of Robert Fitzroy is so interesting and fascinating. In his first voyage he took three natives back to England and they spent two years there until the second voyage, where these natives were brought back to their "countries" and also was the moment for Darwin to accompany Fitzroy as a naturalist. The story of these yaghans, the descriptions of its life and customs, the time spent in England and how they were put back with his people make this story worthy of admiration, worthy for a PBS/BBC documentary. One of these indians lived in Navarino Island, a place my mother lived in the 1960s, in the little Chilean city of Puerto Williams -- another reason for reading this book. I can only recommend all the readers to travel to the south of Chile, you can go to Punta Arenas and from there to know the Magellan Strait, cross to Tierra del Fuego and even go to Navarine island and to know the Beagle Channel ... those are just captivating and precious landscapes., you won't be regretted. In my opinion, Fitzroy should be known more in my country, he is part of it, and this book or another biography is for sure a pleasant reading. This book is precious, commendable for lovers of exploration and the reading is fluid. I wish I could take a course in "creative writing" with this author.

This was bought as a gift and I only leafed through it ... The recipient was delighted and I intend to borrow the book as soon as possible. Very interesting !!

I can hardly imagine a more enjoyable book, some how miraculously delving the reader into the annals of Victorian English society. The book is a much a testament to the epic voyage which ultimatly brought Darwin his fame, as a tale of the culture which bred such a remarkable theory.

Fitzroy and Darwin. How these brave men were marked by adventure and discovery. A fascinating story of the unknown territories and the isolation they suffered on their travels. Nichols describes their solitude and madness, tangled with beautiful narrative. Very entretaining.

Poor Robert Fitzroy has been relegated to the footnotes section of history....oh yes, wasn't he the captain of "The Beagle"? Yes he was, but he was much more. He was also a member of Parliament, a governor of New Zealand, and he founded the British government's Meteorological Office. The downside of Peter Nichols' book is he gives rather short shrift to these generally unknown aspects of Fitzroy's career. But, when Mr. Nichols is on his home turf (the ocean, if that isn't a non sequitur!), he sparkles. He is clearly most happy when discussing Fitzroy the "boy wonder" captain and surveyor. (Fitzroy was in his mid-twenties when he squired young Mr. Darwin around the world.) We can feel the ocean spray and smell the salt air. Not only that, but we really feel that we get to know Fitzroy. He was an excellent and brave captain. He cared about his men. He was also intelligent and charming. On the less pleasant side, he had a very thin skin, a bad temper, and was subject to bouts of depression. During five long years at sea Darwin got to see every facet of Fitzroy. Mr. Nichols is also fascinating when he writes about the four Fuegians that Fitzroy brought back to England...hoping to "civilize" them and bring them back to further spread British culture along the southern tip of South America. The second voyage of "The Beagle" with Fitzroy as captain was the voyage where Fitzroy brought the natives back home, and it was also the voyage with Darwin on board as naturalist. Fitzroy was a strong believer in phrenology, and initially had doubts about Darwin because of Darwin's "hooded brow and large, spatulate nose." Fortunately for science, Fitzroy was won over by Darwin's intelligence and genial personality. Both men started the journey with a great deal of scientific curiosity and with orthodox religious beliefs. Darwin's theories led him to atheism. Fitzroy remained very religious all his life. If it hadn't been for Fitzroy, Darwin likely never would have come up with his theory of evolution by natural selection. The irony of this wasn't lost on Fitzroy. Again, all this is well, even brilliantly, told by Mr. Nichols. The book loses steam when we read about the later developments in Fitzroy's life, but the rest of this book is so good that we can forgive Mr. Nichols for not being able to maintain the high level of writing throughout. The definitive biography of Robert Fitzroy remains to be written, but this book goes a long way in bringing him off the bottom of the page.